


Fate

by FlyingPancake



Series: Kanbayashi AU [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Family Fluff, Fix-It, Fix-It of Sorts, Found Family, Gen, I'm answering the questions Kishimoto didn't dare to, Inappropriate use of fanon, Kanbayashi AU, Massive AU, Ninja shenanigans, Ninken | Ninja Dogs, No Beta, Oh god, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sachi is a little shit, This fic is going to be very long, Too Many HeadCanons, We Die Like Men, and she fucks up the world, regular ninja murder business
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-15 11:00:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 83,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28812318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyingPancake/pseuds/FlyingPancake
Summary: Fate and Destiny are petty siblings that are constantly tearing at each other’s throats. Fate says what will happen and Destiny what should happen, of course, what will happen and what should isn’t always the same thing. Chaos loves to fuck everything up.The Kanbayashi were supposed to die, wiped out and never mourned because in the eyes of the world, they never existed. That is not what happens, nor what should have happened. An alien creature came for them and burned everything they loved to the ground; Sachi, against all odds, survives when she wouldn’t have.This will change everything.
Series: Kanbayashi AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2112372
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7
Collections: NarutoStories





	1. Countdown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it goes, my first ever fic. Keep in mind this will be a pretty drastic AU with plenty of creative liberties, with an OC centric perspective. More in the end notes.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own anything besides my headcanons and my OCs, all credit goes to Masashi Kishimoto.

It started as it should.

“Sachi, _run!_ ”

The little girl did so, flying through the corridors and sliding off the wooden tiles on sharp turns. She crossed the path of one of her cousins who flattened themselves against the window to allow her to zoom past to get to the bridge in time.

She jumped on the platform making it creak and nearly lose her footing but continuing her chase. The fear of arriving late was greater than plummeting to her death. The bridge connected to the third floor but she didn’t have the time to run around the sides of the Heart so she thought of a better route.

The floors with the sleeping quarters surrounded the inner walls of the Heart of the Mother Tree with bridges connecting them not unlike the web of a spider with some of the bridges actually overlapping.

Taking advantage of that, Sachi climbed the rail using her gloves to stick them to the wood and dangle her feet into the air. There was seven feet of distance between the upper and lower bridge and so she jumped, because when one is eight years old they don’t believe in death or risks.

Sachi rolled on the lower bridge with a faint pain to the soles of her feet but didn’t stop and repeated the process until she cut down her journey in half. 

“That’s not fair!” she heard someone shout behind her.

“Come on, Michiko.” she yelled back as her friend reacher her out of breath “Chika-sama is going to kill us.”

The mention of the woman put a shiver down their spines colder than the winter winds. The matriarch of their clan was an old and very wise woman that didn’t hesitate to reinforce the rule of outmost punctuality in any of her trainees. 

Together they pass the obsidian gates, braided with the equally dark bark of the Mother Tree and squint at the light as they come out of the massive shadow.

Sachi can’t help but look away for a second, trying to spot her favourite cousin among the crowd down below. The Heart is at the center of their home and elevated on the stairs of black rock, a pedestal of life and activity.

She focused towards the entrance of their settlement, too far away to tell if the redhead was there or not.

He should have been back by now.

Pulled along by her friend she stopped thinking about the fate of her cousin, who probably just got stuck in one of his travels. Sachi hoped he had many stories to share.

They took their boots at the entrance and Sachi used her tattoos to store hers. The School was just like any other building in the Heart, black wood and a tendency to have spikes to decorate the pointy roofs.

As trainees they needed to go to the upper level, where the others must be waiting for them. It was not Sachi’s fault, or so she would argue, but she knew that excuses will get her nowhere on Chika-sama’s good graces.

They crossed the threshold just as the blaring sound of the horn indicated the start of classes.

“By the skin of your teeth.” they heard the deep voice of Chika-sama remark “Again.”

They bowed their heads low to avoid seeing the glare directed towards them, waiting for permission to enter. Etiquette was one of the fundamental pillars of being a good Archive, a class course that took a week to complete. It was also a class that could be reinforced at any time. Sachi had already made two months worth of etiquette lessons and still hated it with a passion.

She really didn’t want another one.

“Sit down so we can start.” 

Both of them did so without fanfare, kneeling on the cushions. Sachi let out a silent sigh of relief without breaking form and glanced towards Michiko who was recovering from the close call. Rie patted her on the shoulder.

At her side, Harumi rolled her eyes. 

“Today we will be reviewing your roles as trainees for the upcoming festival.” Chika-sama began, rearranging her long flowing robes with ease and grace “As you know, the Tókap Cup Ramante will come soon. Care to tell me who the patrons are?”

Harumi and Michiko raised their hands. Chika-sama pointed with a sleeve towards the older girl.

“The Isonash House.” Harumi said “They are the ones that are tasked with hunting for the Tókap Cup, the sun, to bring nourishment for the clan.”

“Very well. What does it consist of?”

“The hunt will take place in the Needle Forest.” Michiko continued as the woman pointed at her “They will have to stalk and chase the beasts and bring their carcasses back to the clan for us to feast on.”

“Indeed. What will be your duties, as trainees for the Archive?”

Harumi and Michiko raised their hands again. Sachi stared at the walls. She had recently washed the tapestries as a punishment for coming late the other week. The amount of grime that she had to scrub off — very gently and patiently as Chika-sama told her— , was something out of a horror story. 

Speaking of which. Where was Sumi? He should have been back by now, since she knew how much it took to visit Uzushio. A few days were enough to make sure Aunty Yua was healthy and then come back. Maybe this was the year he managed to convince her to assist the Tókap Cup Ramante, since she had been House of Isonash at one point.

A tug snapped her to the front. Rie’s hand was as little as she was but with a mighty twist. Chika-sama was eyeing her expectantly.

“As trainees we are expected to set the start of the hunt, as well as wait for their return to honor the animals that they have gathered.” Sachi recited from her grandfather’s lecture “Aspirants to the Archive must show impeccable behaviour. They have to hold vigil for the hunters, pray for their safe return and accompany the Archive.”

Chika-sama’s golden eyes, very much like her own, slightly twitched and said “True, but I’ve asked you what kind of robes you will have to wear.” Sachi bit her tongue before she whined “Cooking duty, three hours.”

Harumi sent a sly smile towards her. So high and mighty, that one, with her clean record and smug face. The only thing that keeps Sachi from telling her a few truths is that Chika-sama is in a forgiving mood that day and she would not risk having to go through the tapestry cleaning again. Or pruning for the Mother Tree. Or the etiquette lessons.

When Michiko takes the Archive she will burn the memory of her smirk falling off into eternity.

Just a few more years.

Rie tugs at her again, making her glance towards her. No more than six years old, she had the prettiest ribbons braided in her hair, customary of the Asir Rera House, and the biggest heart she had ever met. Rie smiled sweetly at her, attempting to support her in her own way.

Rie was a treasure.

The rest of the class was spent doing the rites and how to bow at exactly eighty-nine degrees to spite Chika-sama. Sachi had been doing this for three years already, being five when she first entered the program. 

It only got more boring.

No one cared for the trainees besides betting on who will take the Archive next —a tie between Harumi and Michiko— and when they got to eat some good bear meat, since they were in charge of aiding the Isonash in parting the food.

The horn breaks the monotony four hours later for the change of classes.

“Which one you have, Sachi?” Michiko asked her as they left the upper floor.

“Seals with Susumu-sensei, and then with Hiroto-sensei” Sachi said “You have sewing with Rie, right?”

Rie nodded at her side before Michiko added “Yep, we’ll pass the Library later if you want to join us.”

Before she answered they saw the walls light up for a second, the seals carved into the wood announcing that something was amiss.

They rushed to the nearest window. Down the stairs leading up to the outer parts of their clan a group of people were gathered. They saw Chika-sama appear in a blink near the commotion, her assistant not far behind.

Sachi saw red hair in a sea of white and she knew.

“Sumi—!”

Just as she realized that her cousin had come back she shivered with a bad feeling. The travelers never activated the seals unless there was an emergency, but Sumi had only gone to visit his parents.

There was blood on the stairs. 

In the next second Chika-sama and her assistant sent Sumi away to the hospital, leaving only the confused and baffled clansmen around the steps.

Sachi looked at the blood of his cousin, staining the dark stairs as it dripped on the rock with heavy drops. She couldn’t help but think that it resembled a river of crimson but with red, shiny blood.

(It had been an omen)

.

“A slaughter—”

“Sunk, just like that.”

“ —all of them”

“ _Dead._ ”

That was the gossip that Sachi listened to as she peeled tones worth of potatoes.

Sumi had come back from Uzushio with a sword in his side and news of what happened to everyone that lived there.

 _Had_ lived there.

Sumi had shown the Archive the memories of his journey, how when he put a foot on the island it was to see the Uzumaki trying to hold the barriers against an entire fleet of Water ships; how he decided to call for reinforcements after he was too injured to fight. The island had sunk by the time he returned.

Sachi had tried finding her cousin. She had sneaked off to his hospital room to talk to him, maybe comfort him, because despite what happened she still considered him her cousin. Instead, Sachi crossed paths with her grandfather, who shook his head.

“ _Not now, little one_ ” he said to her “ _Let him grieve_ ”

Two days, Sachi had promised, then she will speak to him.

But, as it was, Sachi didn’t have too much time in her hands. The summer hunt was getting near, no one had a breath of respite between the preparations and the excitement. As a trainee she was needed to help the hunters, bring them their cloaks, sanctify their weapons, and many menial things that took every second of her day.

And peeling potatoes. So many potatoes.

“This,” Sachi said with a hiss “is the last time I get cooking duty. Ever” 

She had mumbled those words every time she ended up on a stool in the kitchens. The cooks had gotten used to her presence to the point that they had etched her name on an apron. 

“That’s enough, dear.” Manami-san told her as she took the baskets with the potatoes “I know you are busy, off you go.”

Sachi almost argued because there was still an hour worth of punishment left; looking at Manami-san’s easy smile made her nod her gratitude and leave before she changed her mind. Waving her goodbyes she folded her apron neatly; she had things to do.

That was the life of a trainee for the Archive, work, work and more work. Sachi endured it because she had a goal in mind, and she was nothing but not persistent.

She had sacrificed too much to back down.

Michiko was with Harumi, a wonder that both girls weren’t at each other’s throats but neck deep in an assortment of ribbons and fabrics.

“Sachi!” Michiko greeted “Good you are here, I need you to tell this dimwit that this year we have to wear gold!”

Of course.

Michiko was always sensitive about color coding all their uniforms even though nobody ever even glanced at them; telling her best friend that had proved futile the last hundred times they had the same discussion. Sachi only nods, Michiko smirks at Harumi.

“You only side with her because she’s your friend.” Harumi huffed.

Sachi took some of the offered ribbons to make a pretty bow “You could be my friend too if you knew how to have a chat.” 

Harumi spat “I don’t want friends like you.”

Michiko was more offended than Sachi was. “Rude!” she called after her.

“ ‘s okay”

“No, it’s not.” Michiko pouted, making her cheeks chubbier “She’s always picking at you, but she doesn’t know what happened, or why you— argh! Take this.” she put a long strip of black fabric into her hands “You don’t listen to her, she’s just jealous that we are going to be the next Archive.”

Sachi ruffled her hair “You are”

Michiko shook her away “ _We_. You will be my assistant and then…”

“The world.” Sachi finished for her.

Just a few more years.

“So, gold this year?” 

That seemed to brighten Michiko again, prompting her into a long ramble about how gold this time of the year is the best, how it will bring out their eyes so nicely and how they are going to _glow_.

Sachi listened to her friend go on and on. Michiko was like the sun, bright and warm and so, so cheery. It was difficult to look at her sometimes because she was always so happy, but Sachi still looked at her because she was her best friend and they had a promise to keep.

“ —and then I said ‘Well, Rie-chan, we can do both’, you should have been there, I swear, that kid is so amazing—” Sachi assented when it was due to keep her going while she folded the other garments.

Tomorrow she will find Sumi, because she needed to make sure he was okay. Sachi didn’t want him and her grandfather to suffer their loss alone. She knew full well that as trainees they needed to keep their neutrality from the other Houses, to break the bonds that tied to a single branch of the family; but Sachi didn’t want the Archive and so she will keep those that mattered to her heart anyway, thank you very much.

But with the preparations… how will she do it? The Isonash House she knew by heart but the hunters would be gathered, an arrow between her eyes won’t do her much good. Besides, it was too close from _that_ House, what if _they_ were close? Aunty Yua was immediate family, almost like a sister to her— 

“ —listening? Gods, Sachi!” two sharp finger snaps were enough to make her come back “What are you planning? I know that look, spit it out.”

Sachi gave her an innocent smile. It didn’t work. 

Michiko was sunny most of the time, just as well as she could bring up a storm at a moment’s notice. Sachi learned this very early into their friendship. 

“Just worried.” she confessed.

Her friend softened. That was something Sachi cherished in her, the easy understanding of what went through her head without the judgement or harsh reprimands.

“Sumi, right?” they had met a few times but Michiko had been Resunotek, sentinels, so they didn’t cross paths too often with a traveler like him. Michiko approved of him because he gave them candy from the Continent. “He’s grieving, let him heal.”

Sachi knew this, and yet—

“You think he will hunt this year?”

That took her off guard. Sumi was Isonash, next in line for House so it was only natural for him to go into the forest to hunt the beasts. He had participated in the summer and winter hunts before she had been born, he was good at it too, with their grandfather so proud of his ways with the bow. Just like his mother, he would say, just as boastful.

But he hadn’t grieved then.

“I think so.” was her answer “Grandfather will lead the blast of hunters, Sumi will follow if he goes.”

Michiko made a few more bows, using her as a model to test the shade of gold “It won’t be bad luck, right?” she asked her, unsure “If they go to hunt, grieving?”

Sachi let Michiko tie a bow on top of her head “Nah.”

(It was)

“Besides, we haven’t fasted for two days so they can bail on us.” she joked, Michiko wanted to say something more but decided against. “Grandfather is strong, Sumi is fast, we will be fine.”

Michiko finishes tying more ribbons around her fair and hands. “You know them better” she amended “I think this one, hm?” Sachi nodded without glancing at the colors, trusting Michiko’s keen eye for fashion. After all, she’s the one that dresses her in the mornings.

Sachi’s thoughts drifted to her estranged family. They were strong, they were smart, they will get over this.

(It won’t be enough)

.

The summer hunt came before Sachi had the chance to find her cousin. Not for lack of trying on her part, since she had tried everything in her book to pass under the radar of Chika-sama to check on him. It didn’t happen, mostly because Chika-sama knew better than to let her unsupervised after what happened last year.

Not her proudest moment, especially when she had to wait for her eyebrows to grow back.

The Archive and her trainees, as the tradition goes, are at the front of the procession. Chika-sama is wearing her full attire plus headpiece, the white cloth with the crest of their clan at the back of her head as she marches forward. 

The Archive is their guide, so they follow.

The trainees, including Sachi, are just a step behind her carrying the poles with the animal skulls on them. Sachi has the moose, the horns decorated with golden chains and black ribbons. Michiko has the bear this year, with little Rie and Harumi holding the elk and bison together.

Behind them is Sachi’s grandfather, Sumi his second. The rest of the Isonash follow, their weapons drawn, catching the sun as they leave the safety of their settlement.

They all have their cloaks and hoods. Summer it might be, but warm it is not. 

Here, where the snow is everlasting and the cold is unforgiving, they have found a home. They continue forward, their boots silent over the fine white powder. A good year, clear of storms or hail, no angry winds or watery snow.

The cover of their home gets them to the edge of the Needle Forest. The Archive stops, the rest of their clan fanning out around her. Sachi remains behind her, planting her pole, making the bells chime.

“Isonash.” Chika-sama called, Naruhito stepping forward. 

Sachi saw her grandfather, tall as a mountain and just as broad. He was wearing his House colors, black and gold, but this time he was wearing a wolf’s cape. 

_Grief_ , it said.

Naruhito kneeled at Chika-sama’s feet, offering her a black knife. She took the blade with practiced movements, poised, calm. 

“I give you the blood.” she said and pierced one finger “So you may hunt” the blood she smeared on his lips “So you may come to us,” her grandfather took the knife back, offering his palms “with meat for life and furs for warmth.” she put a circle of blood on his skin “What is your oath?”

“I will hunt.” he bellowed, his voice deep and weathered “For meat and for furs, for life and for warmth.” he continued, solemn “For those that keep the hearth alive, and for those that are yet to come. I will hunt for those that cannot and lead those that can.”

The Archive lifted her head, her pristine white robes fading on the snow beneath, to look at the rest of the House “Who are you?”

“Isonash!” they answered in unison.

“What do you do?”

“Hunt!”

Naruhito got to his feet, the House of Isonash bowing their heads as he turned to meet their eyes.

Sachi saw her cousin amongst the crowd, his red hair difficult to miss even with the hood. She tried shaking the pole a little to get his attention, but it didn’t. Sumi was looking at his grandfather, still and straight. 

He was wearing a wolf’s pelt too.

“Then,” Chika-sama prompted “ _hunt_ ”

The Isonash charged towards the treeline, disappearing between the needles and the mist.

.

Three hours later, Sachi came with a plan.

“Oh no,” Michiko whined “not that look again”

“Listen—”

“Oh _no._ ”

Sachi glanced around. The rest of the clan was coming to the clearing, men and women, old and young alike, they were there. Soon, all of them will be.

That was her chance.

“Just this once,” she haggled “I need to get to him.”

Michiko was sporting one of her thunderous frowns “You have responsibilities!” she hissed “Chika-sama will know the exact moment you left— _Oh_ ”

“Please—”

“Nu-uh” 

“Michiko…”

Her friend shook her head. They were needed to prepare the tables and the huts for butchering the animals. It was tradition for the Archive to bless the carcasses but this year she had insisted on teaching them how to perform the ritual. 

“There’s still a day until they return, she won’t notice.”

“She will, she always does.” she argued back “Sachi, this one is your worst plan yet.”

Sachi put her hands over her heart “I have only good plans.”

Michiko gave her an unimpressed look. Sachi reconsidered.

“Okay, I know— no, hear me out. I will only be out for a few hours tops.”

“Your plan is to track down your cousin?” she asked, confused “Why?”

She was getting frustrated “ _Because_ , he’s grieving alone, I need to see him.”

“Need is a strong word…”

“Michiko, please.”

She faltered. Around them the clan was busy, everyone with something to do. There were knives to be sharpened, food to be brought, people to settle… the summer hunt took several days, no one would be paying attention if someone slipped away.

“You know I’ve hunted before with Grandfather, I know the Needle Forest like the back of my hand” she had went on hunting trips with the Isonash, her grandfather keen on teaching her how to find food in the harshest of times in case the need arose.

It saved her life, once.

Michiko knew this, she had shown her the memories, but still hesitates. Chika-sama was already on Sachi’s case since the beginning of her apprenticeship, the problems that followed afterwards more motives to keep an eye on her. 

“You won’t get in trouble, I _promise._ ”

“You always say that.” she sighed “Fine. You promised”

Sachi hugged her tightly “Thank you, thank you, thank—”

“Five hours.” she continued “That’s all you get. I can keep Chika-sama that long, but not a second more!”

It was a stretch, she will need to hurry. The hunters had a three hour headstart, but she was persistent. She could do it.

She rubbed their noses together, their face paint smudging a little “Get off!” Michiko complained “I spent hours on this!” she was laughing then, as she tickled her.

“Thank you, Michiko” Sachi told her “I’ll be back soon”

“You better come back”

“Don’t I always?”

Michiko shook her head trying to hide her grin. Sachi and her plans, dangerous combination.

Sachi glanced at her friend, chubby cheeks and round face. Brilliant golden eyes, a blinding smile… she was perfect, she was the best she could hope for.

“Go now, before they notice.”

Sachi left.

(It was the last time she saw her)

.

The Needle Forest, as its name would suggest, it is not a forest.

Black, tall spikes break the snow to scratch the sky, needles sprouting from them like bastard branches from a withered tree. There’s no foliage or canopies, just bare, dark wood that curls around others to form a maze of thorns.

Sachi is careful when she walks, following the trail of the hunters. Her cloak is thick bear fur, and yet she is still wary of the sharp ends. 

The Needle Forest it’s not a forest, because it feeds from blood.

Here, where nothing grows, the Needle Forest thrives from the sustenance of its guests. It’s a small toll to pay for safety, where humans are as much prey as bears or hares. The Forest is home to everything that seeks refuge from the unforgiving ice planes, including those beings that have been there from the beginning of time, ancient dwellers that take more lives than the beasts or the cold ever will.

The little girl slides down a slope with nothing but a breeze. Young but experienced, she tracks down her family. She knows Sumi’s tells, how he favors the bears just as his grandfather.

Sachi wasn’t lying when she said she knew the Needle Forest like the back of her hand. She knows where to step to not fall into a tree well and suffocate, what tracks to avoid, how many turns it takes to reach the silent stream in the west or when to double back.

A wind makes her kneel in the snow. You don’t fight the climate but yield to its mercy, that’s the law in the frozen wastelands. The cold carries a whisper, steps, the familiar snap of a string…

Sachi makes her way back slowly. There is no one ahead but she risks waking those that must rest.

The Needle Forest is not kind; Sachi doesn’t expect it to be. She digs her way under a small arch of needles; the snow has been moved and set again. Her grandfather is nothing but cautious. 

Above her the dark slender branches cast shadows over her; a clear day, the sun creating spots of blinding light on the ground. She sees a little drop of blood.

Strange.

The hunters know better than to leave a trail of blood. Not even when they kill a beast they leave the blood on the snow; they will bring the animal to the camp to bleed it and then pour the blood for the Mother Tree to feast with them. 

Blood on snow attracts predators. That was the first rule that her grandfather taught her, a rule that even those that eat berries and roots follow.

(It was a warning)

Sachi approached silently, wary of her surroundings. There was only black and white, blue for the shadows, gold for the sun. And a drop of red. Perhaps one of the hunters nicked themselves on the needles, maybe it was just a beast that had gotten too close.

The path was too narrow for any of them to pass through, she knew this, yet she insisted that there was a good explanation for why there was blood on snow when it mustn’t have been.

She sees no more tracks, the careful steps of her grandfather and cousin stop at the blood. She persists.

(Her curiosity will undo her)

The sun marks three hours into her journey. She will need to go back soon. She should have reached her family long ago, since she knew which route they will take to near the bears. At the back of her mind she feels a strange pressure, an impulse that makes her hair stand on end. 

Sachi takes the decision to push further a bit more, she can take the shortcut of the burrows if the need arose. Ahead is only more clean snow, the needles growing thick and dangerously tangled.

Where is her cousin? Her grandfather? They must have known that she was going after them, a hunter knows when they are hunted.

(She was not a hunter)

It’s only a coincidence she notices when something is truly wrong. A rain of snow falls on her as she makes her way to the edge of the Forest. When she looks up she doesn’t see the owl that shook the needles that made the snow drop, but smoke.

Rich, black smoke clouding the sky. Sachi stares, not understanding, at how the smoke twists to shadow the sun. Fire does not burn in the cold, fire does not burn in the ice and snow.

And yet, it does.

Sachi feels her body shiver, because her instincts tell her to run, that this couldn’t be right, that—

She rushes through the Needle Forest, holding her cloak around her to shield her from the sharp ends of the branches. There’s a tight panic in her body fueled by her need to know, to understand what was happening around her.

For the first time in her eight years of existence, Sachi sees fire in the snow. It’s surreal, absurd, because she is aware of how fire cannot burn on snow, too wet, not enough fuel—

Snow burns around her. 

At her right a crackle shakes her awake from her stupor, when she turns she sees a cloak of fur approaching fast. They barrel through a wall of thorns and spines, slipping on the watery snow. Sachi is still frozen in her step when she recognizes who the person is.

Arata, from the Isonash, cousins third removed—

“Sachi!” he calls to her, getting to his feet “Run, child, _run_ —”

Behind him the needles tremble, he makes a sound at the back of his throat that sounds like a strangled scream.

(It is)

Sachi is focused straight ahead, seeing the exact moment when Arata’s chest sprouts a hand. Arata takes a breath, or tries to, before glancing back. Sachi follows the strange bulging limb with unseeing eyes.

Behind Arata is a creature darker than the night itself. It has two reflecting pupils where the eyes should have been, a humanoid figure that pulls its arm from the hollow chest of her cousin. He falls to the snow, unmoving.

She looks down at the body, Arata’s face with an expression of horror, his eyes wide like saucers. He isn’t breathing. Sachi looks up to the creature, hovering at the edge of the little clearing she is in. It quirks its head to the side, then it takes a step.

Sachi watches, transfixed because she feels far away from her body. At her feet there is a body, Arata; he told her to run. The creature takes another step.

 _A god_ , it's her first thought, _they have enraged a god_. It doesn’t feel right, she knows her gods, she prays to them. 

The second thought it's that it’s a demon.

The thing that makes her run is how the alien stopped, straightened its back and smiles at her. It was as if it had cut a gash on its face to let her see two rows of needle sharp teeth.

Sachi runs.

The creature gives chase.

The Needle Forest closes around Sachi as she sprints through the branches. She isn’t trying to be silent so she leaves stealth in favour of speed. The creature is hot on her heels, unbothered by the sharp needles that stop its stride. Sachi doesn’t have the same luck, the needles lodging themselves in the soft of her skin.

She can’t scream, her breath ice in her lungs, she can only run and hope for the best. She jumps over a fallen branch just for a second later for the hand to lodge itself in it. Sachi hears the wood being torn apart, a sickening wet crunch resembling breaking bones through flesh.

Panic makes her run faster still, sliding across the wet snow and the flames that lick her fur cloak. She can smell the burning wood, the smoke thick and heavy. At her left, a black hand grabs a branch, breaking it to send it towards her.

Sachi can do nothing but roll away as the rain of needles try to skewer her. The needles are heavy, piercing the snow around her. One cuts across her sleeve, letting a trail of blood behind. It hurts; it’s cold and she is crying.

She is being hunted by a demon.

Then, between her ragged breaths and the unnatural presence at her back, she hears the wolves howl.

Wolves are an omen of death, they come to eat the flesh and carry the soul.

Sachi prays to her gods for protection, because this can’t be happening, not to her, oh please. She has so many things left to do, she has promises to keep, debts to pay— please, please, _please_.

The creature laughs behind her.

The girl takes a sharp turn, recognizing the path. She jumps without thinking and she falls several feet until she meets a slope of snow. She slides with barely enough balance not to fall into the cliff at her right, trying desperately to lose that… _thing_ that is set on killing her.

She is certain that it wants to kill her.

(She’s right)

As she skis on patches of ice and clumps of snow she notices the source of the fire. On her far left it's the camp, with the conical tents now burning black. The pillars of black smoke are licking the snow with greedy warmth, making it melt around and create rivers.

There are bodies there, little tiny bodies.

And a river of red, shiny blood.

She comes to a stop with a harsh stumble. Her body is weighted down by the water, she is cold and she is bleeding—

In front of her there is a head. Manami, from the Resunotek, head cook—

Her body is two feet away from her head. 

Sachi feels her entire body tremble. That is enough of a shock to make her notice the sounds, the hellish howls of the wolves, the blazing of the fire, the gurgle of the blood gushing from the bodies—

She hears screams. They are her own.

Here’s where Fate and Destiny pull Sachi. They make her get to her feet, start to run again trying to find someone still alive. She is alone, she is afraid, she doesn’t _understand._

There is chaos around her; Sachi can only run aimlessly without knowing that she is making herself even more of a target, a challenge for the unnatural creature that wants her blood. The white snow is stained by crimson, her clan, her _family_ is laid down on the ground like offerings for the abomination that has come for them. 

The crux approaches as she runs to meet it. Sachi, in her desperation doesn’t notice how the demon has come out from the Needle Forest, right behind her. 

She sees a familiar shade of red that doesn’t belong to blood or gore, but to her cousin. Sumi appears from thin air to find her running towards him with open arms and a flicker of hope. Sumi also sees the demon chasing after her, a looming hand that has claws at the end coming from the heavens.

Here’s where Sachi died, staring at her beloved cousin as a hand pins her to the snow like a butterfly to a wall; a quick death, not painless, but quick.

Fate says that Sachi will die, and Destiny says that Sachi has a mind like no other, and Chaos, who has stirred by the massacre agrees to disagree. The cracks of what will be done and what is done widens and as such, Sachi _slips_.

Sachi survives her imminent death by a slip on the snow. Sachi faceplants on the ground, rolling over because she has taken a mouthful of snow and blood, missing the hand that was meant to stab her through her back do so just by half an inch.

Adrenaline makes a last attempt to get her out of the butchering, prompting her to her feet to meet Sumi halfway through. Sumi takes hold of her hand to disappear the next second.

Sachi would and should have died, but she didn’t.

(The world will be torn apart because of her)

.

Sumi takes them away in the depths of the Heart. Sachi is holding on his hand with a tight grip, trembling all the way. He gets down to hug her but stops when he sees the damage on her expression. Sachi, his happy and smart Sachi, was pale as the snow, her cheeks splattered with blood. There is a cut from her temple to her chin.

“S-Sumi…” she calls with a broken voice “ _Sumi…_ ” then, she breaks.

She hugs him first, throwing her arms around his neck and shaking while she cries. He keeps her close, his hands also trembling. He had seen that thing chasing after her, and he couldn’t do nothing but look as that arm stretched to run her through. 

A slip, a slip is what saved her.

“Oh, Sachi” he sighs into her hair. It smells like smoke and iron. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” he croons “ it’s going to be okay”. Sachi sobs, muffling her screams against his cloak.

Sumi looks at the seals carved in the walls. The floor shakes as the barriers try to stop the intruders from entering their home. There’s no one left to defend it.

The sound of footsteps carries over the corridors. Sachi tenses against him, whimpering. He hushes her softly, saying “It’s okay, it’s okay” 

Chika-sama appears in the hallway. Sumi knows it’s her but it’s difficult for him to recognize the woman that was the embodiment of control and presence appear so… disheveled. Her hair is out of her intricate braids and knots, the golden chains hanging in pieces just as the rest of her robes. There’s blood on the hems.

She approaches in large strides, going directly for Sachi. Sumi has never seen the Archive on her knees, but she is as she takes the head of his cousin into her hands. 

“Gods…” she murmurs. It’s the most emotion he has ever heard in that woman, which startles him more than it should.

Chika-sama touches him too, patting his cheek. Her pale yellow eyes are filled with sorrow as she asks “The others…?”

She knows the answer, so Sumi just shakes his head. Chika-sama, wise and old takes a breath to steel herself. She had instructed him to find the other trainees but by the time he found them…

They were in pieces, all of them. 

The matriarch turns to Sachi, who has not let go of him. He knows what she did for her three years ago, and he is grateful, but what she asks…

“Sachi…” her voice is cracked.

“Where…. w-where’s Michiko?” 

The silence is heavy. 

“Rie… Harumi?” she asks, cracking “They… they—”

Chika-sama intervenes before Sumi does more damage. “Come here,” Sachi wants to stay close to him, but she is their matriarch, so she follows. “Let’s clean your wounds”.

Sumi feels the shift, the old woman with unexpected kindness takes Sachi from him. Sumi knows better than to be fooled by her calm demeanor; the snow is crimson and the Heart is empty.

Sachi goes with her, tripping ever so often. Sumi watches, hopeless, because he knows what follows.

They do clean her wounds, bathe her and warm her up. They even cut her hair down to a buzz before she realizes that they are not safe, that they should be running away.

“I never wanted to be Archive” she blurts as Sumi carries her “I… don’t wanna take the Archive, I want to travel”

Chika-sama doesn’t stop. Sumi puts her down on the altar. She has never been in this room, he knows because the only time he had been there before was to witness the previous trainee be turned into the Archive.

She didn’t survive.

Sachi clenches at his hand, shaking. Behind her, their matriarch is opening a chest. “Sumi… I don’t like this,” she tells him “please, I want to see Mother… I want to apologize—”

Chika-sama straightens and turns. There’s no warmth to be found in her eyes. Sachi’s eyes are wide, glossed over with unshed tears. She has always been quick to figure things out, he knows because there wasn’t a riddle or a puzzle she hasn’t cracked in a matter of minutes. This time, it only makes everything worse.

Sumi can’t admit the truth out loud. Instead he says to her “It will be okay, I will be just here, okay?”

It doesn’t ease her worries. Chika-sama lowers her onto the black obsidian table, Sachi snaps her head towards her. She bares her teeth when she yells “I don’t want to be Archive! I never wanted this! You promised Mother that you would never—!” 

Chika-sama doesn’t listen to her as she binds her limbs tightly. “I won’t accept this, I won’t. I swear to the gods I won’t—” she turns to him again “Sumi, please, I’m sorry, please, please don’t let her do this to me, please…!”

Sumi can’t do nothing but watch. He can’t take her away, he has orders to follow. He loves her dearly, but their clan is dead and she needs to keep their sacrifices alive. That’s what he tells himself because admitting he is a coward is too much for him. 

He watches as Chika-sama takes out the ceremonial needles. They are eight black spikes, the length of his entire arm, just as thick and sharper than any knife.

The matriarch takes the first two, angling them at her temples. 

Sachi’s screams will haunt him for the rest of his days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a complete AU that involves an OC but not a SI. I made this fic in hopes of exploring the Narutoverse and try my best to fill in some blanks and how it might have turned out if things went differently. It got out of hand fast. 
> 
> Basically, I will follow the major events in canon but I will be filling in the gaps between them. What I’m trying to say is that some things will remain the same but others will change. Sachi will be my main character, and there are some more OC’s, but she will act as a way to explain my take on the Narutoverse. 
> 
> Of course, the whole Kanbayashi AU introduces a whole new clan that will be important in the story, among other things. This part is set around the years before the Third Great War and will continue forward a little bit further. Meaning, Naruto won’t be appearing in this part and I will focus on the previous generation (Kakashi’s) and everyone in it. Fate is my introduction to my characters and to set the story I want to tell, so the beginning might be a little slow for some. 
> 
> Please do keep in mind that the Kanbayashi AU is the first part out of a trilogy, and it will be pretty extensive, so try to be patient. English isn’t my first language, and I do admit that I might get the grammar or phrasing wrong — since I have no beta—, but please do correct me if you spot anything! Feedback and reviews are more than welcome.
> 
> Finally, I want to thanks those that are willing to read my first fic and I do hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. ^^


	2. A debt to be paid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: there's graphic depictions of torture, and mature language, so be warned.

Uzushio has fallen.

Hiruzen climbs the step towards his office with his heart at his feet. Uzushio, their sister village, is currently at the bottom of the Kaizoku sea. They didn’t get there in time, they didn’t offer aid, they didn’t fight alongside them…

They are _dead_.

Hiruzen remembers Mito-sama and her sacrifice, how she gave up her ancestral home to come to this village in hope of giving her people a future. She made herself into a living vessel for a demon, the only way to stop the rampage of those wicked beasts that laid waste to the world.

Mito, who’s only petition to Hashirama after he took her as a wife, as the mother of his daughter, as the first jinchuuriki was:

_Don’t let Uzushio die._

Now, with the island sunk and those that remain scattered, Hiruzen walks with shame. He, and the whole village, has failed Uzushio, its people and their promise. There is also guilt, because Mito didn’t gave her life to continue the legacy for Uzushio to die in the next ten years.

It was sudden, a lightning fast strike that devastated the barriers of the island. Hiruzen is not a seal master, but he knows that the clans in Uzushio were; their quick death seems suspicious. There was not a cry for help, there was not an alarm. They had ambassadors on the island, they had their own troops there… so why did Uzushio, home of some of the most powerful people, die so quickly, so quietly?

The old Hokage walks the circular corridor asking himself how could they be defeated, in their own island, in such a devastating way? He had seen the damage. The center of the island all but caved in with just some of the buildings sticking out of the water. Their ships had been set aflame, their ports destroyed, their shores painted with blood…

By the time they got there it was too late. Those that could flee had done so and those that stayed for the fight died during it. 

They knew who did it. Water Country has always been envious of Uzushio’s skill with seals, how they coveted their secrets. It was an old grudge between them, spanning the very beginning of the Elemental Countries. Uzushio, only one island facing the spreading empire that threatened obliteration if not willing to be assimilated into Water’s greedy crusade. 

Uzushio’s response was to establish an alliance with Fire Country, a symbiotic relationship in which the island had protection from the Continent and Fire had someone keeping their shores safe. Water hadn’t been happy.

Hiruzen calmed his anger, the bubbling sort of ire that made him reckless. Nothing would please him more than to ready his men and avenge their sister village. He would show them the same mercy they did to Uzushio.

But they have just come out of a war; they cannot afford another. Real life seldom allowed for immediate revenge, instead, they decanter their fury and bid their time. There will be more opportunities to even the odds, Hiruzen had argued with his Council. They might have lost a precious ally, a piece of their own heart, but they will pay their sins one day.

Starting with finding about the boy that appeared in his office to alert them of Uzushio’s cry for help.

Hiruzen opens his office to find a bleeding child on his desk.

.

After several hours, Tsunade exits the surgery room. She is tired, the kind of exhaustion that is only cured by hard alcohol.

“How’s the child?” asks her sensei once she gets to her office. Thankfully, he’s not covered in blood or half-dead children this time.

“She’s sleeping.” or in a coma, she has yet to decide “I healed her the best I could but…” 

Tsunade has fought a war, she has seen horrendous injuries that went from shrapnel burn to instant amputations. She has healed them all, lost some but saved many more. Tsunade has seen and done many things in her twenty-eight years of life, but she had never seen a child with boiled blood before.

“There were seals,” she began slowly “seals everywhere. I had to open her skull to drain the blood and—” the image of bright red lines on the brain, twisting like worms on the tissue made her gut twist “there were seals there too, on her temporal lobes. They were glowing.”

It was horrifying to find inky lines on places that there shouldn’t been; it was more unsettling to discover how those were made. The girl had old scars on her scalp along the temporal bone but there was also a fresh puncture wound above her ears.

“She might have been lobotomized,” because that was the only sound explanation as to why that girl’s brain has been impaled from side to side. “but that’s the last of her worries.”

The brain was fine from what she could gather, just a minor hemorrhage; the rest of her body? Absolutely _ruined_.

“Someone opened all of her chakra gates.” 

“All?”

“All,” she confirmed to the Hokage’s confusion, trying to convince herself that it was possible “she was stabbed through them with something akin to a needle or a very lean knife.”

Her sensei blanched for a second, trying to take that in. “Her pathways?”

“ _Melted._ ” 

Chakra gates are engines, producing the energy the body needs to function properly. The gates dictate how much chakra is circulating inside the pathways but always keeping some raw chakra to avoid complete depletion. With constant exercise one could potentially loosen that level or enhance the quantity of chakra produced; but that comes with consequences. Even if one were to open just one gate, the level of chakra released into the system could destroy the pathways if not flexible enough, causing them to be damaged and potentially rendering them useless.

That little girl had _all_ of her chakra gates opened.

“The chakra overwhelmed her pathways and burned them up.” Tsunade had recoiled when she first tried to heal her since her body was radiating so much chakra that she herself had blisters “she had no chakra system because the chakra had melted it, so… it went to her blood.”

Chakra was energy, and energy while active turned into heat. That’s why the gates try to limit how much of it is inside the pathways to avoid hyperthermia or damage the cells they connect. Without a way to be released via jutsu or spread efficiently, that pent up energy went to the next system that could offer some kind of relief: the circulatory system.

Tsunade had never seen what chakra does when mixed with blood until that day, and it was revolting. While she was draining the blood some of it dripped on the floor; it _sizzled_.

“I managed to at least restore the pathways enough for some of the chakra to be redirected, closing the windows where the chakra was draining into her bloodstream,” and wasn’t that a feat on its own. She had used half of her own reserves to give that girl a chance to live, but it wasn’t nearly enough “if she makes it through, she will be crippled for life.”

With pathways so mangled she will never perform a jutsu correctly or even be able to regulate her body temperature efficiently. That girl has just been sentenced to a life of pain and struggle, with her blood slowly burning her up from the inside. 

A human stew.

The Hokage rubbed his temples. “Thank you, Tsunade-chan” he said honestly “I appreciate your help”

She had only accepted because it was her sensei that had asked. That child was in such a bad shape that it would have been kinder to let her pass away before subjecting her to more pain, because that kid had been awake during the process and she had screamed until her voice went hoarse. Tsunade had to anesthetize her lightly because her injuries didn’t allow for a full knock out, so she had stared right into her eyes and sputtered howls of pain until she was done.

And, to top it off, she had an audience.

“Sensei, who are they?” she watched his expression change, breaking his usual composed demeanor. He had taken Uzushio’s fall as a personal failure, this past weeks hell for everyone in the village, and it showed in the tension of his shoulders and the thinness of his cheeks

But that didn’t explain how did he have a dying child or an Uzumaki teen that had served as her nurse.

“What do you know about the Kanbayashi?”

Tsunade is confused as to why her sensei brought them up. Her grandmother used to tell her and Nawaki stories about white haired people that held the sun in their eyes; she would say:

_“The wind carries the words to those that know how to listen.”_

You never share secrets, she taught them, not even with whom you trust.

_“Beware a Kanbayashi’s scorn, for they do not forget or forgive. You only need to cross one of them to bring hell upon yourself.”_

Be careful how you treat someone.

_“Power lays in knowledge, and the gods of the forest have all the answers to all questions.”_

Always do your homework.

“They are lessons,” she finally said “cautionary tales that parents use to scare their children.”

Nawaki had been scared of them when their grandmother told them stories about how the Kanbayashi were so old and so smart that they could stop the Earth’s spin; or how they were like strands of smoke, ghosts that wander the crowds to listen to those with a loose tongue. Of course, Nawaki had still been young when he believed those stories. He died believing them still.

“They claim to be Kanbayashi?” 

“That’s what the red haired boy told me.” he said.

“And you believe him?” she demanded, incredulous “Sensei, you can’t be serious.”

He didn’t say anything more, deep in thought. She didn’t care, she had not spent more than a day full or work on that girl without a good motive as to why she was so important alive.

Tsunade was a medic, and as such her first instinct was to heal; but she was also a ninja, and her second instinct was to not aid an enemy. 

“Sensei— ”

“Tsunade-chan,” he stopped her “we might want to get answers from the source rather than us speculating.”

She knew a warning when she heard one, but she was still annoyed by the whole ordeal. The duties of a medic were many, and several more when you happened to be Chief Medic. Tsunade could not afford to spend her days doing charity work, when she had too many patients and too little help. Her sensei might be Hokage, but this was _her_ hospital.

“I moved them to the east wing.” the old unit where they put the mental patients during the war. Now, in times of peace it was mostly empty with only the janitors to sweep the floors. “I suppose they will need the privacy.”

That early in the morning the other medics were busy with the night rounds, leaving the corridors empty; a small mercy considering that they were doing this under the table. Another red flag in Tsunade’s book.

The Uzumaki eyed them with suspicion when they stepped into the room. He was holding the hand of the little girl, who was still in the same place she had left her. Not that she would be moving soon, hooked to that many machines keeping her alive.

The boy had bright red hair, half of it being braided tightly with golden beads and black thread. He was wearing a white fur cloak that had blood stains on it, aside from a heavy furry coat and thick boots. Despite being summer he appeared to have come out of a snow storm.

He had the Uzumaki coloring alright, but his eyes were yellow with a dangerous sheen to them. Tsunade felt her temper flare because he had done nothing but stare at her as she tried patching that girl up.

Her sensei, wise and experienced, stepped in. “We want to have a talk, if you could step out for a moment?”

“I can’t leave her side.” he said simply. His voice was deep, older than he looked; it also had a strange tilt to it, an accent that neither Tsunade or Hiruzen could quite place.

“I’m sure she will be fine for a few minutes.”

“She needs chakra,” he insisted “I’m giving her mine.” 

Tsunade could confirm this because the poor thing had negative chakra, as in, she needed chakra to have chakra depletion. Normally, it would have killed the person outright with no possibility of recovery but she held on stubbornly.

“There’s no such thing as chakra transfusion.” she stated, because she was one of the few that were trying to make that possible. There wasn’t a safe way to transfer chakra to another person without some kind of drawback, rejection or outright poisoning of the chakra that ended in a painful death. The nearest thing was a transfer via Aburame bugs, but even then the amount was minimal and the effects poor.

The boy just held out a palm. At the center there were two black diamonds with pulsating lines that went up his forearm. 

“A bloodline limit?” the Hokage ventured, taking a step forward. The boy stiffened but didn’t seem hostile. “Chakra transfer?”

“Chakra manipulation and absorption.” he clarified, looking uncomfortable “We can transfer chakra between us. Please let me stay with her.”

Tsunade’s anger was partially defused at the request. He sounded desperate, pleading. He must care for that little girl deeply, maybe he was her brother? But the girl had white hair instead of red, but shared those brilliant golden eyes. A relative?

“A bloodline limit that allows the user to absorb and manipulate chakra.” she summarized instead of letting her heart soften. He was the one that brought that child in that state to her doorstep, and she will have answers “Seems quite handy, eh?”

The boy shifted. “It is when I’m trying to save my cousin.” he said carefully “I haven’t come here as an enemy, nor do I intent to become one.” 

He was polite but his eyes and posture was anything but. He was now facing them, with an arm twisted awkwardly behind him to hold the hand of his cousin

Sensing the tension, Hiruzen said “A noble cause. We just want some answers, so your cousin may continue to heal.” the boy nodded without easing an inch “What’s your name, boy? With your hair I would say Uzumaki, but I haven’t heard of such bloodline limit among that clan.”

“My name is Sumi,” before adding “I’m only half Uzumaki, on my father’s side.”

Tsunade failed to understand why it mattered on which side he was Uzumaki, but she didn’t voice it, asking instead “And your mother’s side?”

He looked straight at them before answering “Kanbayashi.”

There was a beat of dead silence, Tsunade trying very hard to make sense of what that boy, Sumi, has just told them.

 _Kanbayashi_.

It was true that he had eery eyes but those could be easily faked. The girl had white hair but so did Jiraiya, and she was certain that her big oaf of a teammate was not a Kanbayashi. His clothes were strange, the fur not suited for the climate of Fire Country. A foreigner then. Somewhere up north, Iron Country? There was no hitai-ate that she could see, a civilian? Mercenary for hire?

But that bloodline limit…

“Can you prove it?”

Sumi extended a hand face up. “I can show you my memories.”

“What do you mean by ‘memories’?” the Hokage asked, hesitant.

“The Kanbayashi can transfer memories in the form of chakra,” he explained, “this is our bloodline limit. I can show you my memories to prove it; or you can take my word.”

Tsunade and Hiruzen exchanged glances. They couldn’t trust him, and if it was true that he could manipulate chakra it was too dangerous to try.

“We’ll take your word for now,” the Hokage said, “we just want to understand why are you here, Sumi-kun.”

“My cousin needed a medic.”

“We figured as much, but why here?”

“Because Uzushio is dead,” he explained with strained words. “and you have the only medic that could heal my cousin or be willing to do so.”

Tsunade didn’t know if she should take praise or just throw the boy out of the window. “My reputation has brought you here?” she asked, controlling herself.

“It’s true that your skill is impressive, but I came here because you are the grandchild of Mito-sama,” he told her, struggling to find his words “and because she has a debt to pay.”

That made Tsunade freeze for a moment. A debt. Her grandmother had mentioned it, back when her granduncle was still alive. She had overheard them talking about it in the gardens just before the start of the Second Great War; her grandmother had sounded worried, but her granduncle had reassured her, saying that _they will come when it’s due_.

“My grandmother has been dead for ten years.” she reminded him sternly. That many years had passed but the pain was still there. She had died of heartbreak because she had buried her grandson, just as she buried her husband, her brother-in-law, her daughter and son-in-law. 

And Tsunade had to bury her.

“We know of Mito-sama’s passing, and we mourned her as one of our own, but the debt still stands.” he insisted.

“So that makes _me_ responsible for paying you back?” he nodded “Bullshit.”

“Tsunade-chan…”

“No, sensei,” she hissed “I haven’t worked an entire day on a child just to get a lecture about how my grandmother had matters to settle.” she turned towards the half-and-half Uzumaki and said “You are spitting on my grandmother’s grave, boy. You better start making sense.” _or else_ she didn’t say, but it was heavily implied.

Sumi refused to back down, although he seemed pained “Mito-sama came to us for a request. A seal to bind a human to a chakra being.” 

“The bijuu seal, I presume?”

But that couldn’t be. Mito was one of the best seal masters, praised even in a clan that understood seals better than language. She had made the bijuu seal and proved to the world that a Tailed Beast could be contained. That seal had been fundamental for the world to reach a power balance. Tsunade had seen the seal on her grandmother’s belly, the black curling lines with the spiral at the center.

And yet…

“The Kanbayashi taught Mito-sama how to perform the seal in exchange for a favor.” 

“And what favor would it be, Sumi-kun?”

Sumi glanced back for a second, his expression softening before turning into guilt “Keep Sachi safe.”

Hiruzen went towards the bed where the girl was prompted. Her skin had red angry marks, ice packs to lower her fever. She had not stirred ever since their conversation began; the stillness of her body unsettling. 

She was almost dead.

“Sachi is her name, then.” he said, turning the other hand upwards to show the two black diamonds “You must love her dearly, if you brought up that debt now.”

“She’s the only family I have left,” he confessed gripping her hand tighter “I can’t let her…”

Tsunade refused to be swayed by the emotion in his voice. The seals that she had seen on her body, on her _brain_ were proof enough that he was not exempt from blame. 

“Who did this to her?” she asked suddenly “Who put those… _things_ on her?”

Sumi seemed startled at the question “It’s complicated.”

Tsunade glared.

“Our, um, previous Archive did it; Chika-sama.” 

“Why?”

Sumi paused, muttering “She was the only one left.”

The simplicity of it sickened her. Sachi, who had flatlined twice on her during the procedure, her pain receptors needing to be healed from scratch, the same child that had looked at her with wide eyes glossing over with tears and blood— what kind of family would do something like that? A sacrifice for slaughter, just because she happened to be there. Empathy didn’t come often to Tsunade, even less if they were a stranger, but watching Sachi leave her nails on the metal table was enough to prompt her to throw punches.

And that was going to happen really quick if Sumi didn’t get his head out of his ass soon.

“Excuse our ignorance, Sumi-kun, but could you give us more details?” Tsunade’s sensei pinned her with a look that said ‘don’t’ and she, in all her years under his tutelage and duty, was tempted to ignore him and deal with the consequences later.

“... do you know anything about the Kanbayashi Archive?” 

The name didn’t seem familiar to Tsunade, but it did to Hiruzen.

“There used to be this tale… about an Archive that held all the answers to all questions, pure knowledge and wisdom that very few had the chance to experience.” he answered, checking gently on the girl’s pulse. “When I was a child I had always wanted to get the chance to go to that place, and ask my questions knowing that there would be an answer.” he left the girl alone, focusing on Sumi. 

"That's absurd." Tsunade scoffed, such a place couldn't exist without people either abusing it or destroying it.

"My sensei told me this."

That was why Hiruzen was willing to entertain them, Tobirama never one for fantasy. “Is it true, then?”

“The Archive exits, but it’s not a place.”

“If not a place, then _what_?” Tsunade snapped, tired of talking in riddles.

Her sensei pointed towards Sachi with his head “I don’t have a doubt that you love your cousin, Sumi-kun, but there must be another reason as to why you are trying to keep her safe.”

Tsunade felt a cold shiver ran through her. It wasn’t meaningless torture, but— 

“The Archive acts as the matriarch of our clan.” he said, gritting his teeth “She contains the lives of every Kanbayashi that has ever lived, their knowledge and their wisdom.”

—but one with purpose. 

“You said that your bloodline limit allows for transferring memories in the form of chakra,” Hiruzen commented with interest “and if what are you saying it’s true, then this little girl has been appointed as the Archive, meaning she has access to the memories of all of your ancestors.”

At Sumi’s nod, he said “Mito-sama came to you for a seal that could allow a human to contain a bijuu, which you _taught_ her instead of making one for her.” he continued, his voice even, patient “Correct me if I’m wrong, but could it be that the bijuu seal that you gave Mito-sama is the same kind that your cousin has… on her brain?”

Sumi’s face paled “Y-yes, partially, but yes.” he said, shifting the cloak fur over his broad shoulders “The sealwork of the Archive is more… complex. It needs chakra to function, so that’s why her gates are open but…” he hesitated, clenching his fist to stop it from shaking “something went wrong.”

Wrong was one way to put it. Tsunade could still feel those disgusting seals under her hands, how they were almost alive, trying to gnaw at her chakra. They had stabbed that poor girl through all of her chakra gates, run not only through her brain but also through her heart. They had butchered her, ruined her just for what?

“Why?” Tsunade said, her anger crackling around her “Why did you do this to her?”

Hiruzen tried to intervene but Sumi snarled at her, his own temper rising to meet hers. It resembled a blizzard, harsh and unforgiving, biting at her like a hungry wolf. 

“She wasn’t supposed to become Archive,” he growled “she was just a trainee in name, but she would have never been made Archive—”

“Then why is she Archive?”

“Because everyone is dead!”

Sumi’s face flashed with seals of his own, black thick lines appeared on his face, making his eyes glint with a threat. It all died quickly enough when a wave of chakra washed over them in a curt but powerful burst. Tsunade was familiar with her sensei’s warnings but Sumi caught on just as quickly.

“This a sensitive matter for everyone involved,” he chidded them “Tsunade-chan is tired and I presume you are as well, Sumi-kun.” said boy bowed his head low, ashamed for the reprimand “We’ll finish this conversation later”

“Thank you… Hokage-sama.”

Tsunade wasn’t nearly convinced to let this matter go but her sensei passed her to get to the door, going after him. She _was_ tired, the drumming migraine on her temples a constant reminder that she needed a drink and a week worth of sleep.

“Go and rest, Tsunade-chan.” he told her kindly.

Tsunade didn’t argue anymore.

(She should have)

.

“Not today either, hm?”

Sumi sighs against Sachi’s bed. Three weeks, that much has passed since they came to Leaf. Tsunade healed Sachi’s body, taken care of the damage left of the sealwork, healing the chakra pathways to restore her system. Her abilities bordered on miraculous, single handedly patched his cousin back together.

Sachi doesn’t wake up.

Guilt rises up with the bitterness of bile. He had given Sachi to Chika-sama, knowing full well what she would do with her. But what were his options? Everyone was dead, dead, _dead_ ; and Sachi, happy and bright Sachi had been— _there_. How could he not take her away, get her to safety? How would he have known that she was the last?

Michiko and Rie died together. He found Harumi in pieces. 

He had panicked when he didn’t find her; not even dead. Three little bodies spread out near the tents, alongside the others— 

The creature went for the children first. 

By the time he tried alarming the hunters, they were dead too; and when he came back to alert the others, there was no one left.

Only Sachi, running towards him. 

(He would have died with her.)

And now, there she was, barely hanging on to life because of him. Had Shinju, her mother, been alive she would have skinned him alive. 

(Shinju died calling for her children; neither answered.)

A small pat on his shoulders woke him up from his trip of self loathing. Tsunade pointed to a tray, saying “I don’t want to take care of you too, you better start eating. She won’t get better if you behave like an idiot.”

“... thank you, Tsunade-sama.”

Sumi should be grateful. The Hokage and Tsunade-sama had let them stay in the hospital without informing anyone else; going as far as bringing them food and Tsunade regularly coming by to make sure Sachi didn’t die. The golden coins he had put them into their hands certainly helped, but they agreed anyway. He knew better than anyone that ninjas didn’t honor promises like Kanbayashi.

Another pang of shame. He had sworn to protect Sachi, and yet—

“ —kay there?”

“U-um, yes. I apologize, Tsunade-sama…”

The medic pursed her lips “Look, I really can’t be bothered, but are you really okay? I mean, you told us about… that thing, but it can’t get you here, right?”

The conversation that transpired between the three of them, Sumi describing that hellish demon while the Hokage and Tsunade listened had been… interesting, to say the least. However, they let him recall his story and, even though they might not trust him, they understood the dangers of a creature that could take down hundreds in a few hours.

Of course, they were more interested in the Archive than the motive of their demise, but Sumi tried not to dwell on that. Business came first.

“We don’t know.” that demon had bypassed all their barriers and all their seals, even breached the Needle Forest. It was… unimaginable. If it had been able to trespass the Heart, what could the world do to stop it from doing it again? “It didn’t follow us into the Heart, and I don’t think it… it knows where we are.”

“Because you used a jumping seal, right?”

“ _Hopping_ seal, yes. I can transfer myself through set seals, but that creature… I don’t know if it even has chakra to power the seal, much less use it.”

But Sumi didn’t feel safe. How could he, when the Heart had been but a fortress for a thousand years and fell in less than a day? How could he feel at ease in a hospital room that is so little protected—?

Sumi shook his head. They were kind enough to let him stay, he won’t look down on them. He had no right to, when he didn’t even have a home anymore.

Only Sachi.

At the heavy silence that followed, Tsunade said “Tell me about her.”

Sumi looked up at her, his golden eyes clouding in confusion.

“Your cousin, Sachi. Tell me what she’s like.”

Tsunade herself didn’t understand why she was asking about the little girl that lay butchered on the bed, but seeing the grief emanating from Sumi made her uncomfortable. One wouldn’t guess he was a Kanbayashi, with hair so red and warm smile. Uzumaki were a sore spot for her, Uzushio so deeply ravaged that it hurt to see one of her kin — or half— so hurt.

She could empathize with the kind of pain that came from losing a home suddenly.

The boy, because that was what he was still, gaped for a moment before chuckling lightly. 

“Well…” he began “She's my favourite cousin.” How could she not? When she was the only one that had been full of life ever since the beginning.

“She was born two months premature, in the middle of the winter. Didn’t know if she would make it.” 

_Born out of grief_ , their grandfather had told him. Shinju had bleed on the table until they took her out, and even then she was so little, so weak. Winter wasn’t a good time to be born, despite having the protection of the Heart.

Sumi had spent entire nights watching out for her, making sure she was breathing and not taken too early. Just like now, a hospital bed instead of a crib.

“Two months premature?” the medic spoke, concerned.

“Yes. She spent the first years secluded at home.” it pained him, to recall those memories “She used to have this horrible high fevers…”

Her mother didn’t let her out of the house until she was four years old, although the damage had already been done. 

“She got better, eventually.” he continued “Sachi is named after happiness, you see. Sometimes, I think she should have been ‘stubbornness’ instead.” he said fondly.

She had surpassed every obstacle that life put in front of her, and Sumi was certain that she will continue to do so. That’s why she needed to wake up, because she was the only one that could endure the Archive and tell the tale

If only out of spite.

“Seems like a good kid.”

“She tries.” Sumi murmured, caressing her face gently “Trouble always finds her, or she always finds trouble. There was this one time… she was six, mind you, and we were on a hunting trip with Grandfather when she wanted to show us a new seal she came up with.” Sumi smiled at the memory, the sight of his cousin playing around in the snow, happier that she had ever been until then. “Long story short, she provoked an avalanche.”

Tsunade blinked. “An avalanche?”

He laughed. “Yes, and a bad one too. Snow all the way to the shore; Chika-sama made her melt every snowflake out of place for weeks afterward.”

Sachi preferred to forget about the incident, Sumi didn’t. To this day, it was his favourite story to tell or show. Sachi had made the top of the mountain unstable, making all the slippery snow fall until it created a wall of ice and snow. Him and Grandfather thought it was hilarious, and a little scary; Chika-sama was rightfully annoyed.

“Six you say?”

He laughed again. “Oh, Tsunade-sama, Sachi has done much more than the odd avalanche.” both good and bad. “During last year’s summer festival, she, somehow came up with an ignition seal of some kind. She nearly burned the Archive tent and her eyebrows.”

That too was one of his favourites. He had been there, coming early from the hunt with their grandfather and Sachi had pulled him along to show him her new seal. “ _It will help the meat cook faster,”_ she told him, drawing the seal onto the table _“so we don’t have to wait for everyone.”_ Sachi activated the seal, too much chakra that burned the carcass to a crisp, ignited the tent and, consequently, smoked her eyebrows out.

Chika-sama didn’t even punish her for that, saying that her face was punishment enough.

(The clan had laughed for days; Sachi refused to go out of her room until they grew back.)

“Your cousin seems like a troublemaker.” Tsunade rectified.

Tsunade didn’t know half of it. Sumi felt his heart clench, all of Sachi’s misadventures flashing behind his eyelids. She had good intentions, he knew, but her methods backfired on her spectacularly. The clan — had— regarded her as a ticking bomb, and it made her even more desperate to gain their approval.

Until she didn’t.

“It’s not that she actively _wants_ to cause trouble, it’s just…” he didn’t even understood it himself, that uncanny ability to cause chaos in every step that she took. 

(Chaos is what saved her)

“It’s just a Sachi thing, I guess. Which sounds very much like an excuse, but I’ve been there for most of her disasters and I can testify that she didn’t intend to cause harm.” at least, not in the way that her plans tended to go. It was the gag of the clan, what would happen next because of her.

Tsunade, a picture perfect of Chika-sama’s expression of doubt, hummed. 

“I can show you my memories to prove it.” he extended one hand, black diamonds glowing.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Why—? Oh, right.” Sumi let his hand fall into the bed, sheepish “I’m sorry, Tsunade-sama. I forget myself.”

“It’s obvious you love her, Sumi-kun, but…” 

“I understand.”

Sumi didn’t say anything more, focusing on his cousin. He was a traveler, and he knew that those that had known about the Kanbayashi were skittish when it came to their bloodline limit. Ninjas didn’t easily give their trust and pushing the matter will get him a kunai to the jugular.

Tsunade finished the check up on Sachi, changing the various solutions and writing down her vitals. Sachi, motionless and unconscious, didn’t wake up. Tsunade pictured her running around in snow, wrecking havoc in her wake and her cousin laughing in the background.

She wouldn’t admit it, she wouldn’t say it, but it reminded her of Nawaki.

(They didn’t have enough to put in the coffin.)

“You told us that you use your bloodline limit to transfer memories as chakra impressions, but it works with… you know?”

Tsunade tried not to get blinded by his happy smile. “Yes! Oh, sorry. I mean, yes. It can feel strange at first but it’s totally safe.”

She wasn’t reassured at all. “What about chakra affinities?”

“I assume you are asking because of rejection?” she nodded “The Kanbayashi… well, Sachi and I don’t have affinities, only neutral chakra.”

“Just Yin and Yang?” Sumi nodded. 

Yin and Yang chakra were on a different spectrum than regular chakra; they represented spirit and body respectively. Present in every person, they didn’t cause rejection as much as transfusing chakra from a fire affinity to a lightning one, cycling into their system as their own. Tsunade was intrigued, from a medical point of view, but chose to round the bed slowly and take a seat near Sumi.

Sumi, who hadn’t stopped smiling, beamed at her. It hurt her, somewhat, because Sumi reminded her of the family she had recently lost with Uzushio. Perhaps that was what prompted her to accept, despite the suspicious circumstances.

The red head rose a hand to her temple, saying “It will feel like a pressure, please don’t fight it.”

Tsunade didn’t know what was happening until she felt the aforementioned pressure. Similar to the feeling of pressing her head against a wall; then the trickle sensation of chakra transpiring her skin slowly.

It wasn’t uncomfortable, healing being more straight forward and invasive, but it was a constant force that made her instincts try to fight it. 

Then, utter darkness.

Genjutsu was her first thought. A pointed panic rushed over, believing that Sumi had done something to her and she had fell for a sob story. Before she could do the same thing that Sumi had asked her not to, a red door appeared.

Tsunade didn’t know if she had arms to open it or feet to kick it down, the darkness around oppressive and heavy. Like a void.

Or death.

The door opened without her doing anything, a hand cloaked in white light waving her over that gave way to a vaguely human shape. Tsunade felt that it was smiling.

“This is called a mindspace.” the figure said with Sumi’s voice, coming closer “This what the seals on our temporal lobes are for, but it’s not important. Come, I’ll show you mine.”

Sumi — because it had to be him — took her hand despite it not being there before. Tsunade let herself be guided across the door, a hallway materializing in front of her.

It was made of black wood, stretching impossibly high above their heads into the darkness. Bright golden light that cast no shadows illuminated the walls that had red doors with labels on them.

Sumi rushed through the corridor, stopping at one that had the name of ‘Sachi’ in golden lettering and a sentence that Tsunade couldn’t quite make out. Without fanfare, he opened it.

Tsunade, who was going along with it because she had no prior expectations, was surprised to find that at the other side of the door was—

Sachi.

She was smaller than she remembered, dressed in thick clothes that let only a window of chubby cheeks and wide smile. Her voice was like any other child’s, high pitched and excited, reaching out for them.

Sachi didn’t come out of the door. The little girl took a hand that had been out of view and tugged it, the image moving the same way a movie does. 

They were memories. _Recorded_ memories.

Tsunade watched with wonder as the little girl chatted away in a language that sounded like bone clashing. The landscape was pure snow, Sumi looking around to give more context. He had explained that they came from the north, where there is always snow and ice, but it seemed like an understatement when all she could see was white and grey.

It took her a moment to realize that they were on a mountaintop, black ridged of rock breaking the blanket of snow. Sumi’s voice, the one coming from the door, replied to any of Sachi’s questions. A deeper voice called them both, turning at the same time to see a man going towards them.

He was tall and broad, with a white braided bear with gold and black beads. With a similar white cloak made of fur, he got to their side in two long strides. Sumi had to look up to regard him, but there was nothing but warmth and joy in that imposing man’s eyes.

“That is Grandfather, Naruhito of Isonash.” the Sumi besides her supplied.

Naruhito kneeled into the snow, Sachi jumping into his arms immediately. She was so tiny compared to her grandfather, a small ball of fluff next to a hardened giant. The conversation was missed, Sumi translating into what could be summarized in “Sachi is telling us about a seal.” 

Tsunade had a slight suspicion that it was how every disaster started.

As expected, the tranquility didn’t last long. Naruhito had let Sachi jump around the snow while he talked with Sumi, glancing every so often towards Sachi who was getting near the peak.

A column of gold light shooted up into the sky, piercing the clouds and fizzling into sparks as Sachi took out the hands from the black rock. Sumi and Naruhito clappled, making polite sounds of amazement to boost Sachi’s smile. The girl left the top, speaking excitedly until her voice was drowned by a rumbling roar.

Then, the whole mountain went downhill.

Tsunade wasn’t familiar with the destruction and devastation that snow could cause. Sumi had the courage to go to Sachi with a blink — a hopping seal— and take her up in his arms; looking over the ridge, Tsunade could see the mist and snow rushing down to vertigo inducing heights.

Behind them, Naruhito laughed.

The image stops abruptly, changing to show black waters and equally dark shores; except for the wall of snow that now split it in half. A woman stood at the front, white flowing robes and a crown of white hair decorated with golden needles and chains. 

The woman turned around, Tsunade not fooled by the deceiving calmness as she called out Sachi’s name. The little girl was holding onto Sumi’s legs, her big golden eyes fearful for a moment before she went towards the woman.

“That’s Chika-sama, the… _previous_ Archive.”

Again, the image shifted to a closer look. The woman was freakishly tall — Tsunade suspected heels — with a wrinkled face and windswept skin. She asked something, Sumi replying in that rough language, making her squint her eyes. 

In the background, Sachi was shoveling snow. 

Sumi closed the door, ending the movie. However, they didn’t stop. Sumi dragged her to another door located far away into the hallway, Tsunade catching sight of doors that were chained to the black walls and crossed over.

Without time to snoop in, Tsunade watched another memory.

It started in a school. Sumi had told them that they used to be hundreds of Kanbayashi, clearly reflected on the class of easily a hundred teenagers in the room. They were all neatly seated on cushions, staring right ahead as a man with long hair with blue and gold ribbons wrote on a blackboard.

They were just kids, all of them with white hair and golden eyes.

(They were all dead.)

Their teacher, Susumu-sensei as Sumi named him, was writing on the board what Tsunade recognized as seals. Jiraiya had explained to her some of the matrixes that were used outside of medicine, and if she recalled correctly, it was a retaining seal akin to those of a regular storage scroll.

Between the bodies of different teenagers, a small hand was raised.

“Susumu-sensei didn’t like Sachi.” Tsunade could only agree, as the old man shriveled his face as if he had slurped a lemon. Begrundly, the teacher let Sachi speak. “Sachi told him that the seal was wrong.”

They argued for some time, Susumu-sensei getting angrier and angrier until he told her to get to the front of the class and show them the ‘right way’. Sachi did, barely seen from the desk in front of the board.

Sachi was the youngest; not a day over six. What was she doing in Sumi’s class?

She took a piece of chalk and started doing the seal, struggling to complete the circular matrix at the top before adding connectors and more details that were lost to Tsunade. Finally, she made a seal that was slightly different from the one that the man had done, a smug smirk on her face.

Sachi proceeded to prove her seal by putting the piece of chalk on the center, the object disappearing against the smooth surface with a glow of the seal. 

“Sachi was showing us a retaining seal that allows only certain users to access. Susumu-sensei didn’t listen to her, and…”

Tsunade watched, seeing the sour man flattening his hand against the seal and, subsequently, blowing a hole in the wall.

Had she been able to, Tsunade would have laughed at the bewildered expression the teacher made at seeing the damage. She would have been crying with mirth at seeing another teacher, a woman, peeking around the hole covered in dust and debris.

Meanwhile, Sachi is white as a ghost and wide eyed. She turned to him, Sumi catching her horrified look, mouthing the words that Sumi translated them as “ _I didn’t do it._ ”

“Chika-sama gave her five hours of cleaning duty for this one— Oh look, that’s her brother, Keiichi...” 

Tsunade saw a boy, a little younger than Sumi, massaging his temples. The resemblance between Keiichi and Sachi was uncanny. Although every Kanbayashi — except Sumi— had the regular white hair and golden eye look, they shared more subtle features. From the turn of their nose to the grimace in their lips; an afterimage of one another. Damn, the woman that birthed them must have been lucky.

Sumi closed the door, turning around and opening another. Instead of seeing through Sumi’s eyes, Tsunade saw him staring right back at her.

It took her a hot second before she realized that it was the reflection of a mirror. Sumi was younger, his hair down from the braids and holding a toddler.

Sachi.

Sumi waved, Sachi imitating him with clumsy movements in his grasp. “It was her first birthday, just after we put her seals.” he said with pride “That’s Shinju, her mother.”

Cue another tall woman appearing. Tsunade could tell by how she walked, a purpose clear in her eyes, that she was a strict and stern mother. Her hair was straight as straw, cut one inch above the floor and wearing a white and gold gown. With high cheekbones and a slender frame, she took Sachi from Sumi’s arms with elegant movements. She wore blue lipstick, standing out against her pale complexion and light yellow eyes.

At her side was Keiichi, waving at Sumi with a grin short of two teeth. The mirror filled with more people, Sumi dutifully introducing each one “That is Nori, their father and my uncle,” to the man that made silly faces at Sachi “you already know Grandfather. Look, those are my parents.” to the couple that came in last. 

The woman had short white hair styled to the side and dimples on her cheeks; accompanied by her husband, a poster image of an average Uzumaki. His flaming red hair was a drop of color in the picture they were posing for. His tanned skin and easy smile contrasted with the solemn look on Sachi’s branch of the family.

“My mother’s name was Yua, and my father’s was Akio.”

And just like that, another door opened without prompting. Tsunade turned on instinct, even in the middle of that strange experience, she had little autonomy to see the memories of—

Uzushio.

While Sumi’s home could be summarized in grey scale, Uzushio was an explosion of color. Tsunade recognized the bleached stone steps that led to the volcano of the island; the aqueducts filled with clear water and brightly colored koi fish. The red tilled houses with spectacular white walls that reflected the afternoon sun. The fresh greenery throwing shade and muting the glittering of the streets and the shine of the buildings. Down the road she could see the edge of the Kaizoku sea, shielded by the crowd flooding the markets.

Tsunade felt a sudden sense of sickness, faded away by the connexion between both their minds. She had seen what was left of the island after Water destroyed it; the very same temples that had been sacred for generations were ransacked and thrown into the water. The water canals, once their pride and joy, ran with their blood. 

The harbour, once filled with their magnificent ships and boats all but annihilated by the tides.

Tsunade wasn’t seeing death, but life. Sumi’s memories, of a time just passed, kept the vivacity and beauty of Uzushio in its prime. Red haired Uzumaki, with their boisterous laugh that echoed through the busy stalls; the Hama fishermen tending the koi of the aqueducts, Ishiwata ships sailing the whirlpools…

Sumi turned around, displaying the Uzumaki main temple in all its glory. Akio, Sumi’s father greeted him with a toothy grin, welcoming him in. Sumi closed the door before Tsunade could see more of the family she had lost.

And a blink later, all was gone.

Tsunade held her head between her hands, the light of the room too much to bear and the heaviness in her heart too great to endure. It had began innocently enough, with a moment of weakness in Tsunade’s part after watching Sumi lose himself in grief.

Now, _she_ was the one grieving.

“... I… I apologize, Tsunade-sama.” 

Slowly coming to herself, she asked “What happened?”

“The seals in our brains are sensitive to emotions, and sometimes they act up. I didn’t want to cause you any pain, Tsunade-sama…”

“No, the— Uzushio, what happened to Uzushio?”

Sumi was hesitant to speak, sobering up quickly “The island was destroyed—”

“Do you have the memories?”

Words of denial died in his throat. He couldn’t resist the calling of truth, not when his clan had actively seeked it for centuries. It was the last thing he could do for her.

“Yes.”

.

Hiruzen smoked his pipe, calming his nerves as Tsunade’s recall of events settled in his mind.

“Water broke the treaty. They employed the war ships that they swore to us they destroyed..! They lied to us, and they employed a jinchuuriki to destroy the island.” Tsunade muttered under her breath, seething with anger.

Sumi had shown Tsunade what had transpired during Uzushio’s fall. They had used the jinchuuriki of the Three Tailed Beast, something that heavily breached the terms of the haphazard peace they had drawn at the end of the Second War. Tsunade spoke of a crazed jinchuuriki, mad and out of control that had powered through the barriers of the island and swept it with tide after tide.

To add insult to injury, they had a clan with a bloodline limit that could employ lava. Uzushio’s long dormant volcano had been used to split the island apart and render useless their efforts to counter them.

The attack came by nightfall, a planned scheme to avoid any alarm from their bases on the shore that would notice the smoke rising from the volcano. Too late for any of the ships to sail by, most likely bribed by Water, and their own destroyed first to trap them on the island.

Sumi, the only one with an ability to bypass the disaster, had done his best. He had, in his words, “ _Hopped out everyone I could_.”; a commendable feat that had saved a few dozen of lives until his chakra ran out.

Then, he stayed to fight. Tsunade argued that Uzushio fought tooth and nail, taking as many as they lost. Water had been that close to giving up, if it hadn’t been for their lava users and swordsmen. 

Yua, Sumi’s mother and a Kanbayashi through and through, had died defending the Uzukage’s daughter.

“They knew who our ambassadors were, they targeted them so they wouldn’t notice us.”

Water had cut off any communication between their villages; a smart tactic had Sumi not been at the scene.

“Water has been planning this.” she hissed “They never wanted peace, those warmongering little shits. They wanted to blame the volcano!”

Sumi had appeared in his office, wounded and soot covered, screaming about an attack to Uzushio. He had believed him on a fluke, and because of that they had caught Water ships fleeing the scene before they could feign innocence.

“We have proof, sensei— we can bring them to justice, avenge my grandmother’s home—”

“ _Tsunade-chan_.”

She stopped.

“The proof you speak of is a collection of memories from a boy that doesn’t exist.” she tried to argue, offended at being brushed off. He flicked his pipe “We know that Water is the reason why Uzushio fell, and I know that you would want nothing more than to take a ship and destroy Water.” he paused, sighing “I know, because that’s what _I_ want to do.”

Tsunade looked away, ashamed.

“But war is not an option, not right now. If we are to call a Kage summit, we wouldn’t be able to surrender proof without putting Sumi, and Sachi, at risk.” taking another breath of smoke, he added “They will raise questions, as to how we know that they have the ability to use volcanos, or the identity of their new jinchuuriki. What will we tell the other Kages to convince them of Water’s transgression? Lightning and Earth will side with them to be contrary to us, Sand too weak to have much of an influence in the vote.”

Their most powerful ally had been Uzushio.

“Water will shift their attention to us, and the war that is brewing will only burst faster if Water believes we know too much. I understand your pain and resolve, Tsunade-chan, and I won’t ask forgiveness for my incompetence; but I do ask for _patience_.”

Tsunade refused to meet his eyes, Hiruzen exhaled smoke. It had been a while since he had seen Tsunade’s stubborn side, reminiscent of her childhood; short that it was. 

“How long?” she said, steeling herself “How long until we strike back?”

“Until we _can_ strike back.”

Sumi had offered knowledge for his cousin’s treatment, better than the solid gold coins he had given them at first. He had been an envoy for years between Uzushio and the Kanbayashi, and he knew his fare share of sensitive information about their neighbours. 

The new jinchuuriki was named Karatachi Yagura, ten years of age and a penchant for destruction. The lava users belonged to the Terumi clan, native of Earth Country. That was precious enough, if not for all of the identities of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.

“If we go against Water in our state…” they had numbers and terrain to their side, but he was not tempting luck with the Terumi clan. “Without proper training, intel and strategy we will be sending our people to feed Water’s need for blood. We might win the fight, but the cost will be too great.” it happened during the Second War, wounded by the loss of the Niidaime that forced their hand through vicious retaliation. 

The Battle of Hot Springs was Hiruzen’s first mistake as Hokage.

Tsunade, who had lost too much from all the political struggle and conflict, clenched her teeth in anger. 

“Patience, Tsunade-chan.” he told her gently

The woman huffed. “I understand, _Hokage-sama_.” she used his title as an insult these days, a reminder that their bond as teacher and student had been twisted by higher responsibilities and time.

“Anything else that Sumi-kun might have… showed you?”

“I asked about the process of becoming Archive.” she began, her voice rough “He didn’t want to show me at first, giving me the excuse that I might not understand why they do it and all that crap.” taking a deep breath, she said “It’s… horrible. They need to open all chakra gates and an assistant to carry out the transfer, something to put a barrier between the Archive and the vessel’s mind. Guess _who_ didn’t have an assistant?”

Tsunade rubbed her temples, apologizing for her bitterness “Long night. In a nutshell, Sachi’s mindspace or something might be messed up because of the Archive, so that’s why she isn’t waking up.”

“Is there any way to help her?”

She shrugged “Sumi-kun doesn’t have any ideas, and it’s something beyond me to fix. I can’t heal the mind, and I don’t want to poke around when her body is still recovering.”

Wall after wall. Obstacle after obstacle.

Hiruzen snuffed his pipe. “Thank you, Tsunade-chan. It must be tiring for you to take care of this situation.”

“It’s my job to heal, and Sumi-kun isn’t that bad if you let him show you his memories, but... I don’t know, sensei, it’s too much. The Kanbayashi have been pulling our strings before the Elemental Countries were formed, and I know he isn’t showing me all the details.”

“Do you believe he is lying to you?”

“Lie? No.” she chuckled without humour “The Kanbayashi are too cocky to lie, and the memories he shows me are true. I’ve checked for genjutsu and ran a scan on my brain to make sure he wasn’t putting seals or the like. Their bloodline limit truly allows for memories to be exchanged, and from what I’ve gathered they can’t alter them except to store them as independent clips.”

Hiruzen took that in without trying to let his suspicion make him close minded. Sumi had broken some of the notions of normalcy that he had until then, and so he treated everything that pertained him and the Kanbayashi without asking too many questions as to why or how.

He had to give it to them, it would have solved many problems in his life had he been able to check memories without calling a Yamanaka.

“Anything about the creature?”

Tsunade shook her head. “He told me that he doesn’t want to revive that day until he is more… stable. The seals on his temporal lobes can act up if he is under too much emotional stress and can cause a... _collapse_.”

The term was unfamiliar to him, and so he asks about it. “Sumi-kun described it as a tower. They use seals to store their memories as chakra manually, a very delicate process that depends on them keeping their cool and not freaking out. They stack their memories as they please, like making a tower out of bricks. If they snap, the tower comes crashing down and can kill them. Or lock them in inside their minds.”

That was… peculiar

Tsunade didn’t know if she should be impressed or label Sumi-kun as insane. “The worst of all? I believe him. He showed me a family picture, or his version of it, and the sight of his parents made his memories shuffle before he could control them. If he is telling the truth about that thing attacking them, then I understand why would he refrain from seeing it again.”

Hiruzen did wonder, how it must be to live a life that didn’t allow for nothing to be forgotten. Good and bad, traumatic and cherished memories all neatly categorized. Useful yes, but from Tsunade’s report, dangerous too.

“Will a Yamanaka help?”

“No. Sumi-kun made it very, _very_ clear that only a Kanbayashi can safely access another Kanbayashi’s mind. The seals on their temporal lobes have a security feature; we wouldn’t be the first ones to try and crack their brains open to get to the intel they have.” she stood up, stretching herself “I wouldn’t trust a Yamanaka with a Kanbayashi, their abilities kind of overlap and I know both are nosy fuckers.”

Hiruzen could only agree. It was wishful thinking to believe that the Yamanaka wouldn’t spread the rumour of a clan with a bloodline limit that could interfere with their secret techniques. They were avid hunters when it came to the information of the human psyche, ruthless too when they were interested.

“We’ll continue as we are, then.” he conceded. There was little more they could do, with Sachi in a comatose state and Sumi watching over her. As for Uzushio… they could only wait and see.

“I’ll talk to Sumi-kun tomorrow, see what I can find.”

.

There was fire inside her. It was searing her veins, she could feel it when she took a breath and it came out as steam. She was burning, scorched from the inside and no way out.

Above her Chika-sama is raising a needle, the little light of the room catching just so as it comes down on her. Looking down she sees the other black needles, shiny with her blood as it pours from her body. This is the seventh one.

Her back arches, trying to fight off the intrusion and the pain. More fire floods over her, blazing all the way to her toes before rushing towards her head. It feels as if she has coals crawling under her skin and around her bones, eating everything that she is, scalding her very soul.

She can only scream.

There’s blood in her mouth, bubbling hot blood that she cannot swallow because it hurts more than her tongue slowly boiling. Her legs are twitching with the chakra overload and she can feel it bleeding into her bloodstream.

Another wave of pain comes, catching her unaware. She tries to scream but she can barely breathe, her lungs wet, her throat a raw mess. The blood splutters around her lips, running towards her chin.

“Bear it!” she says to her, “Bear the pain! Endure it! Accept it!”

The matriarch of her clan yells at her, but the sound is distorted because there are two needles behind her ears. Those had been the first ones. The bone gave up at the first thrust, crunching so hard that she was sure that it will never heal again.

“Accept it!”

_No._

So she thrashes and fights and screams. The fire surges, the room filled with the hiss of her blood as it splinters the altar she is pinned on. Her body shakes, convulsing because of the heat. 

She refuses, she won’t bear it, she won’t endure it, she won’t accept it. This is not what she wanted, this is not what she will become.

A touch, a pull, a pressure— something is slowly creeping inside her mind. A darkness so deep that her thoughts are devoured, her will chipped away with every moment that passes. 

Her body is burning but her mind is going cold. She fights it, summoning mental barriers just as Father had taught her; but it’s difficult and the strength of the void is greater than hers. 

Spitting the blood in her mouth aside she stares into Chika-sama’s eyes. She is burning too. Golden lines that criss-cross her face and the meat of her arms; they look like molten gold, just as pretty, just as sweltering. Her lips are red, with matching blood on her cheeks and neck.

 _Good_ , she thinks with bitterness.

The pain is so intense that she barely registers the ground shaking beneath her. The walls flicker with the alarm seals, but she doesn’t care about scenery when she is literally roasted in her own juice. The dread numbs the burn somewhat, but it rips at her mind like a crazed demon. 

When she closes her eyes she sees the faceless figure there, with that unnatural smile that speaks of a greater torture than being boiled alive.

Fear is what keeps her convulsing, the primal instincts that tell her to fight and bite and _run_. She can’t do anything of that; she tries anyway. The cold, freezing slender fingers of the presence in her mind caresses her memories before consuming them also.

Chika-sama takes another needle, she is struggling to stand but catches herself.

The fire is dying in her veins, she can feel it simmer down. The frigid void draps itself over her, like worms over a corpse for a feast. She gasps, coming out as a choked snort.

 _Death_.

She remembers the last time she felt the realization of her mortality, abandoned in the winter with nothing but snow and stars. Now, she stares at the ceiling, black and sterile. She doesn’t want to die, she has so much to learn, so much to do, so much to live for—

A hand steadies her shoulder, flattening her back on the table. Chika-sama is holding that damned needle in her hands; they are coated in so much blood that it slips. She grabs it tighter.

The darkness passes over her eyes, and she is afraid, because she is going to die and she will die in pain. Her head rolls over to her right, catching sight of the red hair of her cousin. 

She reaches for him, because she doesn’t want to go, not like this, not so early, _not alone_ —

The eighth needle plunges three inches below her left collarbone, and she is gone.

.

Following her promise, Tsunade breached the subject the following day.

“Say, Sumi-kun, how come you have a set seal in the Hokage’s office?”

To Sumi’s credit, he didn’t shrink. “For emergencies.”

He _had_ appeared to warn them about Uzushio’s attack, nonetheless the comment didn’t sit well with Tsunade. Did the Kanbayashi have ‘emergency set seals’ everywhere? 

“If it eases your mind, Tsunade-sama, we had permission from Mito-sama and Hashirama-sama.”

“ _What?_ ”

Sumi gave her a small smile “Mito-sama and Hashirama-sama knew about the Kanbayashi; and so did Tobirama-sama.”

“You are telling me… that my grandparents _and_ grand uncle knew about you and didn’t mention it to Sarutobi-sensei? Or me?”

His eyes darkened for a moment before answering “Those that know, or had known, about us didn’t make a habit of advertizing our existence. There are… consequences.”

The last bit sounded very much like a threat, which was the wrong thing to attempt when staying in Tsunade’s hospital. Floored by the confession that her own family had kept her in the dark about the Kanbayashi was enough for her to allow Sumi’s slip in propriety.

The Kanbayashi had managed to stay undetected, undefeated and unmatched for a thousand years. Tsunade wondered, how many knew about them and what kind of consequences made them keep their mouths shut.

(Tsunade had seen Sumi’s memories of the battle in Uzushio. He had killed people with only a touch of his palms.)

“If I were to snitch that you are here, what would you do to me? Kill me?”

“I really hope you don’t do that, Tsunade-sama.” he said amiably, “With my clan gone there’s little I could say or do to threaten you into silence; and, sincerely, I find fear to be the worst incentive to keep a secret.”

He was playing her with words, she could smell it. “That’s a flowery way to say that you are too compromised to fight back.”

“That too.” he chuckled.

Although he was taking it good naturedly, Tsunade could sense the uneasiness in the way he held Sachi’s hand. Maybe he would fight back, or hopp himself away. That wasn’t an option, they had too many questions unanswered.

“Why did my relatives know about you and I don’t?”

He hummed. “There was no need for it, I suppose. Those that came to the Kanbayashi were extremely rare, and not any from your generation forward if I recall correctly.”

Her generation?

“What do they came to you for?”

“What everyone wants; an answer.” he explained, racking a hand through his hair. He had taken out the braids, leaving it wavy and wild “Do you have a question that you would do anything to gain a response?”

“Several, in fact. For example, where is my dead last of a teammate, or where did he hide my sake.” Tsunade waited until she finished changing the wrappings around Sachi’s torso to ask “Do you know the answer?”

“I’m not the Archive, Tsunade-sama.” he insisted gently “And if I were I would advise you to reconsider.”

“Why? Isn’t the Archive supposed to answer every question?”

“Well, yes, but wouldn’t you rather have an answer to a more complicated question?”

“What if I want this question to be answered?” she insisted, trying to gauge more from him.

“Then you will have it answered.”

Huh.

“That easy?”

He put the blanket over his cousin, afraid to disturb her from her sleep. “The Archive does everything, but there is a price to pay for every question.”

“Makes sense. What kind of payment you need? It’s not money, right?”

“No, it isn’t. The price is up to the Archive, and there have been instances that she has requested valuable items, although priceless.” he said, smoothing the IV lines “Normally, it’s knowledge. Or favours”

Like her grandmother.

“So, information for information?”

“Yes.”

“Damn, you really are nosy.”

“Our clan’s mission is to know, to understand… but also to preserve. You don’t know how many lives and happenings have been lost to history or simply forgotten.” and then, with a toothy smile he said “Being nosy is not so bad when you go against death.”

She struck a nerve. 

“Fight death?”

“What is death to you, Tsunade-sama?” and at her glare, he added “Humour me, please.”

What was death to her? Tsunade had seen the worst that life had to offer. She was not even fully eighteen when she was drafted into war and truly fight against death. As a medic, she had healed people torn apart by shrapnel, with limbs missing and permanently crippled. She had seen fields full of rotting bodies, dismembered parts decorating the fronts and ragged last words of regret and despair.

She was five when she buried her grandfather, betrayed and humiliated.

She was fifteen when she buried the empty coffin of her granduncle, rotting in an unknown swamp.

She was eighteen when she buried a closed casket for her little brother.

She was twenty four when she buried her last relative, her grandmother, after she sacrificed herself to continue the legacy she had started.

What did she knew about death?

“Cessation of all biological functions,” responded the medic in her, before the more sensitive part said “and suffering.”

Sumi gave a curt nod, not dismissing her response but making no comment either. “For us, it’s forgetfulness.”

The response surprised Tsunade. Sumi had told her that the Kanbayashi had purposely changed their brains to avoid forgetting, a procedure similar to a lobotomy with the sole purpose of controlling their memories. It wasn’t that far stretched to believe that they regarded death as obliviousness.

More somber, Sumi muttered “If I die right now, how many years until my whole existence is erased? Fifty? A hundred?” and then “If the world forgets about me, have I ever lived at all?”

Now they were reaching philosophical levels of conversation that Tsunade did not want to dwell on. She wasn’t old enough to have an existential crisis, despite Sumi’s efforts to remind her of her own mortality. Ninja didn’t die of natural causes, old age a myth among them that only the lucky ones experienced.

(She had given up picturing the end of her life lying in bed. There was always another war, another mission; she will meet death there.)

But Sumi wasn’t a ninja. He was a boy that had seen his whole family die before his eyes and forced to flee his home. With no allies and no friends, his death will mean the end of all his eighteen years of life for all eternity.

“You’ve never wanted to collect information.” Tsunade stated after the heavy silence “What you are trying to do is _beating death._ ”

Sumi didn’t look up at her, focusing on his little cousin that had yet to wake up.

“You must think that I’m a terrible person, to let Sachi become the Archive.” she did, but didn’t voice it. “The truth is… I’m terrified of death, Tsunade-sama, that everything that I’ve seen and everything that I’ve done will be for nothing. That my life is m-meaningless—” he chocked at the end, swallowing the lump in his throat “And that those that have d-died will remain dead, forever.”

Tsunade let Sumi recover. He looked older, more haunted in the deep bags under his eyes and the greyish hue of his skin. She couldn’t fully understand the importance of the Archive from her point of view, but she recognized the fear of death in him. Perhaps was the last thread of hope he was holding on to not spiral out of control, keeping vigil over his cousin and Archive.

“But with the Archive… I won’t be forgotten. I… I know that when I die I’m gone, finished and not ever going to be awake again. I won’t live again, I will be _dead_ .” he gasped, fisting his hands on his knees “But even if I’m gone, I won’t be forgotten. My life could help others, offer answers to those that need them— I will be dead, but I will be _remembered_.”

“As long as the Archive lives, everyone does.” and it was the shattered voice that did it for Tsunade, patting him gently over his shoulder as he refused to cry or crumble. “That’s why she has to live— everyone is dead, and we are the last ones. I have my parents’ memories in the Archive. I’ve lost them one time, I can’t lose them again.”

Tsunade had lost her family too, and she knew how grief made one selfish and desperate.

“That’s a lot to ask from a child.”

He sobbed.

“Sumi-kun…” she cooed the best she could, awfully awkward when dealing with mental breakdowns.

And with a sudden groan, he stopped. He wiped his eyes roughly and took a deep breath, faint glowing lines near his ears and scalp. Tsunade didn’t ask about the sudden change in demeanor, emotion clearly a risk factor when it came to his seals.

Sumi broke the silence first.

“May I borrow a mirror, please?”

.

“Not today?” 

“Good morning, Tsunade-sama.” Sumi greeted her with a smile.

“I wish I had the same good mood you have. My patients are running me ragged.”

Sumi didn’t comment, letting her do her usual tasks of changing the saline solutions, cleaning the wrappings and checking Sachi’s status. Writing everything down, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Sumi had forfeited his warm clothes and set it at the end of Sachi’s bed, the fur cloak neatly folded in a square. He had braided his hair again, which might have been why he had asked for a mirror yesterday, and freshened himself.

(She should have asked why.)

“Tsunade-sama,” he called “I want to show you something.”

She stopped, regarding him oddly. “It’s not something weird, right?”

Sumi had showed her how he made his fur cloak, age eight, killing and skinning a whole bear by himself. It had been… disturbing, even more as Sumi boasted of his skill.

“I believe you will want to see this.”

Tsunade, who had gotten closer to Sumi, left her clipboard on the bed and went to him. Her sensei had tasked her with reporting any new information that Sumi revealed, so she didn’t refuse his petition.

Sumi put his hands on her temples, the pressure on her skull easier to stand now that she knew what to expect. The boy guided her deeper into the corridor, bypassing red door after red door, before stopping at a chained one.

This time, Tsunade stared at her grandmother’s face.

The Uzumaki Mito that she sees isn’t the one that had wrinkles or an easy smile; no, this Mito was severe and stern, with a strength that only youth could provide. 

“Shiryō-kan,” she called, “I request your wisdom and knowledge in the name of the Uzumaki Clan.”

Behind her grandmother was a silver mirror. The reflection was a little wobbly but it didn’t belong to Sumi; the woman that stared at herself was old, with the same colors as the Kanbayashi. By her side were two young girls dressed in similar garbs.

“That’s Archive Mitsuko-sama,” Sumi told her, “Chika-sama will be the next one, at her left.” 

Tsunade didn’t need the names; she was seeing her grandmother again. Young and _alive_.

“I heard your call, child.” was the Archive’s response, “What is your question?”

Mito steeled herself with a deep breath. They were in the Uzumaki temple; she had been there as a child. The temples dedicated to her grandmother’s clan had dark red wood supported by bronze curling pillars. If she listened closely she could hear the chime of the bells that were hung on the archways, or the clashing water from the whirlpools of the Kaizoku Sea.

“Is there a seal that can stop the Tailed Beasts from slaughtering us?”

“Seals you do know, Uzumaki.” the Archive said, unfazed, “Before I answer, tell me, why do you seek us when you have your own strength?”

Said Uzumaki refused to be swayed; instead, she said “Strength comes with time, _that,_ we don’t have. You, Archive, have the answers to all questions, yet refuse to intervene. I do what I must to keep my people safe, even if it involves requesting your help.”

The Archive looks towards the girls at her side. Chika and another that Sumi calls Rikka, the assistant, nod once, her eyes returning to her grandmother.

“The seal you seek comes with a burden.” the old woman said, “You are young, with a long life ahead of you. Tell me, child, what are you willing to sacrifice for the path you seek?”

Mito, young and fierce squints her eyes with determination, “The only path I will ever want is for my family to continue living in a world where they don’t fear if death comes before tomorrow. My life is mine to use, if that is the price for their freedom then I will gladly pay it.”

“Do you believe that your sacrifice will bring peace? You are willing to give yourself to bond with the demon, but you can only do so with _one_ . You will need eight more sacrifices,” she said just as easily, “who will you give up to share your fate? Are you willing to bear their hatred, their resentment? You seek peace, but it will take nine lives of every generation. This is what _you_ desire, but will the others accept?”

The wind picked up, opening one of the windows. There were voices, laughs and a faint tune that was overpowered by the bells. Mito’s eyes had darkened, her quiet anger provoking the air to rise to the challenge.

The Archive and her girls didn’t move nor rise, letting the young Uzumaki unravel. Mito had been the fifth child out of ten. Before the jinchuuriki were created she had lost her parents and oldest brother to the rampage of the Three Tails. Mito wore her grief like an armour. When she spoke next her voice was even and sharp.

“We have lost too many to afford bargains. If those that will follow me, out of their choice or obligation, decide to despise me then I will endure it. I have buried too many for me to stall for time, and if nine lives it takes for this massacre to end, then I will offer my own blood for it.” she said, unyielding, “This is my choice and I will take the consequences that come from it. I ask again, is there a seal that can stop the Tailed Beasts from slaughtering us?”

The Archive looked at her grandmother, her golden eyes taking in every detail that her grandmother had. She was beautiful, with her crimson hair tied in buns and the robes of a high priestess from the Uzumaki temple. Tsunade had heard the stories of how her grandfather had fallen for her with only a glance, not only because of her beauty, but because of her drive.

Tsunade can see it now.

“There is.” the Archive said at last, with golden lines appearing on her skin. “A seal to bind a human to a chakra being, one that would make you a living vessel. If your resolve is weak it will burn you to ashes, break your soul and turn your death into the worst possible pain there is.”

“Physical pain holds no power over the love that I have for my people.” Mito countered.

“May your love guide you, then, to either success or failure.” the Archive got to her feet, her robes falling like snow around them “Is this your question, then?”

“ _Yes_.” The Archive went towards her, the palms outstretched with the black diamonds in the middle “What will be the price of the answer?”

Before answering the Archive put her hands on her temples, the slight panic in her black eyes visible as the old Kanbayashi focused on her features “You, Uzumaki Mito, have a debt towards the Kanbayashi. There will come a time when you or your blood will pay it.” she said, then adding, looking at the mirror “We, the Kanbayashi do not forget our debts or promises, nor do we forgive those that break them. May this answer bring you solace.”

The memory ended with a dark feeling of foreboding. Something was wrong, Tsunade at Sumi’s mercy inside his mind.

He opened another door.

Sumi was there again, ten years younger and trembling like a feather in the wind. He was nervous, shuffling his feet and picking at the cloak on his shoulders. A soft click echoed, Sumi turning around dizzyingly fast.

There was her grandmother again, older and weathered by grief and a hundred years of life.

She had lost the edge and sharpness of youth, gaining a more experienced neutral gaze that regarded him with amusement.

“Good morning— I mean, good evening, Mito-sama.” Sumi croaked, standing straight as a pole and just shy of giving a salute. “I’m here in, um, I’m here for—”

“Breathe, child, breathe.” she advised calmly “I know why are you here, but not your name.”

Tsunade didn’t need to see Sumi’s expression to know that he went beet red at the remark. Sumi fumbled for a few seconds until he said “M-My name is Sumi, it means speed.”

Mito bowed lightly “Pleased to meet you, Sumi-san. Do come in.”

Sumi entered her grandmother’s room, the side suite that she used ever since Hashirama died. Mimicking the temples of her home, the room was painted in different shades of brown and red, with bronze highlights and carved seals on the walls.

He followed Mito’s form, not even time managing to bend her spine and bow her head. Standing as regal as she had always been, she lead them into a low table in the middle of the room. 

“Tea?”

“Huh? I— no! It’s fine!”

Mito poured a cup for herself settling carefully on the cushion. Taking a sip, she asked “Pardon my curiosity, Sumi-san, but I presumed that the Kanbayashi had white hair.”

“They do, but I don’t. I’m half Uzumaki, Mito-sama.”

At that, her grandmother smiled. “On what side, If I may ask?”

“My father, ma’am.”

Taking another sip, she stated “You are aware that I will be dead by this time tomorrow.” 

It dawned on Tsunade then, when exactly Sumi had met her grandmother.

She remembered it too, after the fortieth anniversary of her husband’s death, when her grandmother decided to transfer the Nine Tailed Beast. Tsunade refused to believe it was suicide. Mito, a pillar of steel all her life despite the grief and pain; she had willingly set her death, and met it with pride.

Looking at her grandmother, Tsunade saw no remorse, no fear.

“Yes, Mito-sama. That’s why I’m here.” Sumi said, griping his knees tightly.

“To call upon the favour that I owe to your Archive?” she asked, mild as milk.

“No, ma’am.” he took a small breath, obviously a wreck “I’m here to offer you the possibility to enter the Archive.”

Mito, an example of strength and tranquility, set her cup on the table; the only indication that she might be surprised.

(Tsunade had been frustrated at her grandmother’s control over her emotions; she didn’t understand then, that it was a honed skill instead of talent.)

“Why would I?”

Sumi hadn’t expected it, making various sounds of confusion and barely stringed together sentences until he said “ —your life will be forever preserved in the Archive, always remembered!”

“Why would I want to?”

“Why not?” and immediately afterwards “I’m so sorry, Mito-sama. I forgot myself— um, you can refuse, of course, but if you accept we can keep your life forever in the Archive.”

Mito, schooling her features, insisted “But why, child, _why_?”

“So you don’t die forever.” a flicker of something passed over her grandmother’s eyes, Sumi not noticing his insensitivity “Father says that you are the greatest woman ever, and I believe him. The world will lose you tomorrow, but _we_ won’t lose you.”

Sumi’s head snapped to the bells around the room, suddenly chiming at the light breeze that came because of her grandmother’s chakra.

“How old are you, child?”

“Nine years old, ma’am.”

“Why did they send you here?”

“Because… I wanted to. Father always talked about you, so I wanted to… to meet you. Chika-sama let me because she said I’m old enough to travel now.”

Regarding him with her dark eyes, Mito said “Is that so?”

“Yep! —I mean, yes, Mito-sama.”

“Before I answer you, Sumi-san, answer me this.” forgetting the cup, her grandmother put her hands on her lap “Did they send you, a half Uzumaki, to convince me?”

Sumi, very seriously, answered “If Chika-sama wanted to convince you she would have sent Hoshiko-sama, my aunt. I can show you my memories, if you wish.”

Her grandmother regarded Sumi for a few moments, sizing if he was telling the truth or not.

“I see.” she said, in the end, “I’ll let you bring my memories to the Archive, Sumi-san. I hope you will take care of them.”

“I can promise you that, Mito-sama! They will be safe forever!”

The memory ended with her grandmother’s smile.

The very last before she died.

When the spell broke down and Tsunade went back to reality, she felt an instant sense of vertigo that made her grip the bars of the bed.

“... w-why did you show me this?”

Sumi glanced her with cold eyes, no sign of his usual kindness and warmth. In its place was a stone faced wall of indifference, and at the same time, of resolve.

“I was the one that brought Mito-sama’s memories to the Archive, and I’ve done so with countless Uzumaki.” he commented, putting a glowing palm on her forehead that made her entire body shake with a jolt of chakra. 

He had paralyzed her two first chakra gates.

Tsunade was going to kill him.

“Thank you for everything, Tsunade-sama. Mito-sama’s debt has been paid in full.”

It sounded like a goodbye.

At the back of Tsunade’s mind a voice told her that this was the moment that Sumi disappeared right before her eyes, stabbing her in the back when she had done nothing but console him and help him.

She didn’t expect for Sumi to drop dead.

He had put his hands on Sachi’s temples, closing his eyes and putting their foreheads together. Between the paralysis and the uneasy pang of her two gates restarting themselves, she caught a glimpse of Sumi’s seals glowing on his skin.

Then, Sachi’s body started to glow. Red was replaced with yellowish light, the humm of chakra filling the air, electrifying the room as Sumi did something that was very, very wrong. 

Tsunade broke out of whatever Sumi did to her too late, his body sliding off the bed and dropping to the ground with a heavy thump. Putting two fingers on his neck gave no pulse, and no amount of chakra that she pumped into him brought him back to life. Not even screaming or curses made him stir.

His entire chakra reserves were gone.

“Stupid!” she spat at the lifeless body before her. “What did you do?!”

Inside her chest, the crushing sense of dread and grief washed over her. Another life lost, right before her eyes. How could have she fallen for a trick so old?

Sumi had baited her— he had angled for her soft spot and taken advantage of her own misery to establish a bond. He gained her trust, and now—

Now what?

Sumi was dead, and for what?

Tsunade went to Sachi’s side briskly, chakra on her hands to inspect if he had done something irreversible to her. Her heart was beating regularly— no, the rhythm was quickening. With a diagnosis jutsu she slithered her chakra into her coils, finding them agitated and roughened up for the large chakra transfer—

Where was that chakra?

Sumi had been blessed with Uzumaki chakra reserves, and that much would have fried Sachi’s already damaged body. Patting her gates, from head to heart, she found them intact. However, they were cycling rapidly, a clear sign of a distraught chakra system that only appeared during chakra exhaustion or excess.

Tsunade pushed her chakra deeper, hunting for the chakra that had to be there— 

Nothing.

“Damn it all!”

Sumi had transferred all his chakra to Sachi, but why, why, why? What was the purpose of doing that? To sacrificing himself like that?

He had told her that he was terrified of death not twenty-four hours prior; had he been lying? No. No one could fake that kind of existential terror. And yet, he had basically committed suicide before her eyes—

Tsunade opened Sachi’s eyelids, illuminating her irises with a light and discovering that her pupils were responding.

Sachi was coming out from the coma.

“Fuck you Sumi-kun, fuck you, fuck you, _fuck—_ ”

Without a team of nurses Tsunade was forced to make two earth clones to help incorporate Sachi. She had been hooked to a respirator and dialysis to help her body recover. Extracting the endotracheal tube while one of her clones informed her that her motor reflexes were coming back.

“A fucking month and _now_ you wake up?” she gritted, pinching her arm and seeing her withdraw it from the pain. “Sachi, do you hear me?”

The girl was slowly waking up, breathing by herself and licking her lips dazedly. Tsunade snapped her fingers, Sachi turning her head minutely towards the sound. A prolonged coma tended to come with surprises if the patient ever woke up, from not having any sequels to completely shutting down afterwards.

Sachi hissed through her teeth, taking a deep breath that pained her somewhat. Tsunade rubbed her hands on her chest, careful about the scar tissue that went from her sternum to her underbelly. The seals bloomed under her healing chakra, spreading and flashing with Sachi’s heartbeat. Tsunade, for the first time in her years as a medic, was lost as to what to do.

Normal procedure involved extubating everything that wasn’t necessary, doing an evaluation of the body and brain and deal with the subjacent issues that appeared after a whole month comatose.

This was _not_ normal procedure. The seals formed and disappeared, the points where the chakra gates were located had a swirling matrix, connected by long strings of sigils. Tsunade could see Sachi’s scalp glow unnervingly golden, covering the worst scars on her skull with a matrix right above her ears.

“It doesn’t look good—” was one of her clones input.

“Good oxygen saturation!” said the other one.

Sachi was breathing alone, her heart beating strongly in her chest. Tsunade saw her frown deeply, showing her pointy teeth as she let out a groan.

“Sachi? _Sachi?_ ”

Ah.

There she was.

Sachi opened her eyes suddenly, golden, clear and aware.

“Sachi, do you understand me? Do you feel weird?”

The clones helped her get up slowly, incorporating her on the bed as the girl rubbed her eyes and glancing around, confused.

“You are in the hospital, Sachi, take it easy. Can you tell me your name?”

Sachi ignored her, lowering her eyes to her hands and the IV in the crook of her arms. One clone gripped her shoulder lightly as she swayed to the side, Sachi trying to say something as she opened and closed her fist.

Her voice was but a whisper, the language twisted and akin to using rocks as mouthwash. Sachi winced, lifting a hand to press it at her temple.

“Sachi, do you understand me?”

The Kanbayashi spoke another language, an inconvenience when all the other territories spoke the language of the Sage of Six Paths. Tsunade had no way of communicating with Sachi if she didn’t understand her, the only translator available currently dead. 

Sachi murmured something, picking at the IV’s and stretching the gown. “Don’t do that, stay still.” one clone advised, which Sachi followed once she saw the scars on her body.

“Sachi—”

The girl traced the first star shaped scar on her chest — her third gate— and trailed down the ridge that split her torso in two. A clone tried getting her attention, knowing full well the shock of coming back to consciousness after a prolonged period of stagnation.

It wasn’t until the seals on her skin started glowing that she declined.

Tsunade took her hands in hers, forcing Sachi to look at her “Sachi, listen to me. It will be okay, just breathe.”

The girl blinked at her, taking a deep breath. 

She understood her. Sachi could understand Tsunade—

The joy of breaking the silence was short lived, as Sachi’s eyes found her cousin’s body on the floor.

“Fuck—”

Sachi’s head snapped back to her, and any trace of hesitation disappeared as anger surged forward. 

Tsunade had no way of knowing, Sumi’s stories and memories about Sachi showing a good kid with bad luck. Sachi, who was so fragile and weak, young and lost shifted into a quiet sense of ire that swept the room with a burst of chakra.

The other clones dispelled themselves at the shock of such a young child seething killer intent. Sachi’s chakra pathways were compromised, no clear system that could redirect her chakra. That’s why when she became agitated, her raging chakra left her body in uncontrolled bursts; like boiling water bursting with electricity.

Tsunade recoiled back at the unexpected response, and in the spare second she had to try another strategy, Sachi had already bit her thumb. It took only a bead of blood and a fickle seal for everything to go straight to hell.

The explosion was deafening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fucking hell. I’ve rewritten this chapter a hundred times, and I’m not joking when I say I’ve scratched up thousands of words to come with this one. I’m not entirely pleased with it, especially the end, but I’ve gotta speed this fic or we are looking at a hundred chapters
> 
> Also, RIP Sumi, it was a pleasure to write you even though I killed you in two chapters.
> 
> For those that don't know what an Archive is, without spoiling too much, is what would happen if you put Google in vid format inside the a human mind, essentially, the jinchuuriki equivalent of a YouTube library. I decided to create this concept is to help me explain what happens in the Narutoverse, offering context and why it's so important to keep Sachi alive. I promise it will make sense someday lol.
> 
> My hc is that Uzushio and Water had always been at odds, and Water used their jinchuuriki (the Sanbi) to obliterate the island while using the Terumi clan to wipe it out. This will become important later, but I hope this at least explains why Uzushio was destroyed, and the repercussions of it.
> 
> Anyway, hope you liked it!


	3. About first impressions

Despite having a powerful bloodline limit, the Kanbayashi are mostly scholars. They thrive in academics, a compulsive need to understand, to know. The Dark Release marks on the shape of two diamonds on their palm allows for memories to be stored as chakra impressions inside the mind. 

This doesn’t mean that their memories can be contained forever, as the mind tends to erase the excess of information to retain what truly it’s important. Of course, what the mind deems important does not always align with what the Kanbayashi considers so.

For their memories to be maintained the Kanbayashi use seals applied to the temporal lobes to bind the information permanently. This constructs what they call a ‘mindspace’.

Sachi blinks at the void inside her mind. The roof is utter darkness only illuminated by the snowy floor beneath her; on it, flat books are organized in neat towers. 

The memories are placed in categories: there’s the good memories in a tower that reached her waist; there were also the memories that held everything she had studied up until that point, a tower that had been split in hundreds for her to reach comfortably; the important things to remember at the center of the mindspace; and—

At the corner of the space she had built over the years were the memories that she desperately tried to avoid. A Kanbayashi cannot forget, they have ensured that everything they did or say will always be remembered. Their failures and sins were also recorded, but could be ignored.

The tower held only two books, but the content made Sachi avoid opening them.

Of course, that would have been on a good day. Sachi wasn’t experiencing one at the moment, her mind completely thrashed.

Sleep is the brain’s way of processing information without any more input of stimulus, as well as rest the body and allow it to grow or heal. The Kanbayashi had taken their bloodline limit and their goal to shape a continuous state of consciousness via seals, offering them full control over their information processing. 

Sachi knew this, because that was the first lesson they learned after they put the temporal seals. She also knew that her mind was hers and hers alone and that nothing short of another Kanbayashi interfering could change that. 

There was a _door_ now. 

Dark red wood, exactly the same as Sumi’s study room; she had seen it before, in Sumi’s mindspace. It wasn’t interfering with her memories but… there.

It unnerved her.

The obvious question was: what was it doing in her mind? Shaping one’s mindspace took great effort, and Sachi’s style was simpler than constructing that kind of mental barrier. What Sachi wanted to know, though, was: what did that door keep locked?

Opening it was easy enough; the structure foreign but compliant with her mind. Sachi had to squint against the brightness of the adjacent room, completely white except for the the shiny black floor. Sachi got only a glimpse of the mountains of books piled on top of each other, one step forward and then another; mist pooling around her feet, slipping past her.

The memories of the Kanbayashi didn’t record feelings, nor thoughts; only what the eyes saw and what the ears heard. In spite of it, Sachi could feel a phantom sensation of coldness, a familiar lull to it that had something else lurking underneath.

It felt like the Needle Forest.

Except, the branches and the spikes were replaced by impossibly tall towers of flat books; _memories_. Sachi stopped at a particular large one, the base precariously holding the top that she had to crane her neck back to see. 

The books had different colors for the covers; some even fancy edging or inscriptions. Just like her own syle of organizing her mind, the memories came bound in a book. Unlike hers, there were too many.

Inside her mind, Sachi was at peace. She had been for some time, letting the flow of good memories wash over her as she tied, bound and hid those that she so desperately wanted to forget.

(She wouldn’t).

She knew that something bad happened, very, very bad for her to be so long in her own mind. 

Maybe she was dead.

Far away she heard a guttural purr, a rumble that she recognized from shifting icebergs. Sachi went towards it, figuring it was best than wandering aimlessly. She wondered what had happened, for her to have so many things at once; a gift? Had she gotten a fever again? 

Sickness had an unique way of interfering with the temporal seals. Distorting the memories and even mixing them without the user’s intention. Sachi knew better than anyone that getting sick meant a very through cleaning up. 

Until then, it was limbo.

“Did I… find Sumi?” she asked to the laberynth, trying to string together the last of what she remembered. “He was there… at my right—”

 _Thump_.

A book. Red covered with black edging.

Grandfather had warned her about her curiosity, how it always got her in trouble and in situations she could have easily avoided had she ignored the magnetic pull of intrigue. Watching foreign memories were on the top three things she should, by all accounts, not do without supervision; among with trusting strangers and playing with seals.

Sachi opened the book.

The cloudy sky blinks into darkness, Sachi lying down on the floor to let the memories unfold. Eventually, the void clears to show a very familiar face, although younger.

“ _Your name is Sumi._ ”

He was only a year old, held by his mother in front of a mirror. 

Sachi would have smiled at the picture of her aunt had she not known she was dead and—

Sumi was dead too.

There was no other explanation as to why Sumi’s memories, from the very beginning, were in her mind. It was a custom of theirs, to pass the memories of the deceased to another so they could bring them to the Archive.

She would have raged, cried and screamed because her beloved cousin was dead. However, her emotions were dulled by the alien structure, an echo of what should have happened has she been in her own mind.

Only curiosity remained; prompting Sachi to continue watching the last remnants of his memories. Sachi watched him grow into the kind young man that she knew he was. Seeing the highlights of his life made her heart break in little tiny pieces.

 _“This is my new cousin! We named her Sachi.”_ he told the mirror, holding a baby in his arms.

The adventures they had together, and the trouble they both caused. 

_“One day we will travel together.”_ Sumi promised a young Keiichi one day.

His parents.

 _“Come back soon, son. And bring a lady for once!”_ teased Akio, followed by a chuckle of his wife.

Their grandfather.

_“You are destined for greatness, Sumi, do well.”_

His happy memories, from the first time he hunted a bear to the time he was named heir to the Isonash House.

_“Come on Sumi, I have a plan!”_

A younger Sachi, spontaneously appearing in his life with toothy grins and grabby hands. He had loved her, she knew, showing in how often she was in those recordings. There was also her brother, together for almost the entirety of their lives. 

Sachi had misjudged how close they had been.

_“Take them away!”_

The devastation of Uzushio, Yua’s death and then her husband’s. The days that came next, mourning and pain. Sachi felt a pang of guilt; she should have been there, taking care of him instead of letting him cry in a corner of his room, wailing and blaming himself.

 _“We will go up stream and round the bears there.”_ had been Grandfather’s last words to him before that creature ambushed them.

Sachi’s will faltered there, skipping the painful images of seeing more people die in front of her.

Not fast enough not to see her mother’s corpse split in half.

Sachi tore through the pages until displaying the very last one. Much like the beginning, Sumi’s life ended with a message in front of a mirror. Sachi saw his tired face and the heaviness in the smile he tried to give and failing miserably.

 _“Um… this is probably my last message.”_ and it was, although it didn’t make it easier to say or to watch _“I do hope it works and reaches you… anyway. You are probably wondering what happened.”_

Sumi took a deep breath. _“Sachi, you are the Archive. No, wait! Let me try again, good Gods.”_ he rubbed his hands against his face, sighing before continuing _“I’m sorry, okay? I know how you feel about the Archive, and I know that you didn’t want to, but— it sounds very, very bad but you were the only one that could have done it.”_

The girl flung the book far away, clashing against a wall of books; it didn’t do anything to stop the memories. Sumi had no right, absolutely no right to ask something like that out of her—

 _“You can hate me, Sachi. And I will understand if you do for the rest of your life, but please, please don’t shut yourself away. I know you, Sachi, and I wish it had been different…”_ he sobered up, his voice tilting seriously _“You are the Archive now, Sachi, and you can’t change that.”_

She would, Sachi knew she would do it. She didn’t want the Archive and she wasn’t supposed to become one. Chika-sama had promised her mother that she wouldn’t consider her as a vessel, it had been the only request for her to be made trainee. 

Why, why, why, _why—_

 _“Sachi, please.”_ he begged, familiar with how driven she could be _. “Don’t do anything reckless. You might not like it, but you know how important the Archive is and— Sachi, you have to live, for everyone.”_

She disagreed.

The mountains of books quivered.

_“You have to understand, Sachi. That demon is out to get you, and I can’t protect you anymore. I’ve taken you to a safe place, it’s in Fire Country, in the Leaf Hidden Village. I’ve told you about it, remember? With Mito-sama?”_

Sachi didn’t care. She had trusted Sumi to protect her, and now...

(Screams and agony; Chika-sama plunged the first two needles in her brain—)

_“ —Tsunade, Senju Tsunade. She’s her granddaughter and the best medic. They will take care of you, but don’t trust them. You are the Archive and a target—”_

“Don’t tell me what to do!” she screamed, making the room shake under her rage “You don’t get to tell me what to do!” she shrieked “You are dead!”

And with a bang, Sachi closed the entrance to the Archive. 

Ghosts had no power over her.

(She should have listened.)

.

“Morning sunshine.” 

Hiruzen watched from the door as Sachi gave Tsunade a scathing glare. It could have been the vindictive tone his student had used to greet her, or perhaps because she had bound her hands with bandages and put a chakra repressing seal on her forehead. 

Either way, Sachi was not happy.

Sachi was awake and well, or the best she could be considering her health. Tsunade had bought Sachi a few more decades, but not even someone of her skill could mend melted chakra pathways. Hiruzen could tell Sachi’s anger by the way the room sparked with killer intent; the girl mustn’t know that she was doing it, simmering in a corner of the bed while pinning them with her golden eyes.

And, Hiruzen had to admit, were quite the striking ones.

Late at night, the only timeframe he could spare from his role as Hokage, and the faulty lightning in the room made Sachi’s eyes stand out; her scowl discernable in the penumbra. From time to time the seals on her skin glowed, Sachi clutching the blanket around her tighter to hide them.

“How are you feeling, Sachi-kun?”

The girl snarled at him.

“Let me try, sensei.” Tsunade said, inching closer to her. Sachi stiffened under the blanket, flattening herself in the corner “Oi brat, you and I have to talk.”

A flash of light. Another sneer.

“Sachi—”

“ _Sumi_.”

Tsunade stopped.

“Where… Sumi?” she asked, her accent heavy and clipped. 

“Sachi-kun, may I come closer?”

“No.” a beat later she added “Where, Sumi?”

“He’s dead.” Tsunade supplied.

Sachi visibly flinched in her corner, light seeping under the blanket before she gathered her thoughts.

“Where?” she insisted.

Sumi had been a polite young man, engaging in conversation and answering questions. He had understood the position he was in, surrounded by a neutral party that was not his ally and depending on their good faith to stay. He was also older and wiser, and more fluent in their language.

Sachi… was not.

Tsunade had spoken about a cheery girl, one that got into too much trouble than it was worth. A loving kid, she told him, attached and loyal. Sumi had been at the center of her life, exhibited in how many instances Tsunade had reported back. 

A smart and good kid.

Hiruzen couldn’t see it.

“Do you want to know where his body is?” he asked as gentle as he could. 

Looking at her brought the image of a feral kitten. She spat and hissed at them in an animalistic fashion, growling with that twisted and gravely tongue the Kanbayashi spoke and shaking in her corner. A trapped harmless beast, overwhelmed by her surroundings and strangers. Hiruzen supposed it wasn’t a good picture to paint, but one that they were currently in. 

“ _Yes_.” she demanded, no less biting.

With an exasperated grunt, Tsunade left the room. Hiruzen, true to the girl’s petition, didn’t approach. Sachi had been advertized as the answer to all questions, but she seemed pretty lost at the moment.

Hiruzen was too.

“Sachi-kun, we don’t want to hurt you.” he soothed, Sachi focusing on him with embers in her eyes “We want to know what happened.”

Silence.

“Sachi-kun, please don’t be obstinate.” it wasn’t a threat, but a reminder. The girl, young and confused but not naive, catched on immediately; her chakra flared in response. “May I get closer, so we can talk?"

Taking her lack of response as permission, he made his steps deliberately slow into her space. Sachi tensed and backed into the wall, but unless she suddenly developed the ability to go through walls, she wasn’t going anywhere. He settled in a seat in front of her bed, the flow of stray chakra prickling at his skin.

“Do you know why are you here?”

“... Sumi take me here.” 

“Yes. He took you here, do you know why?”

“... heal.”

“Yes. Do you know who healed you?”

“Mito-sama’s, um… daughter-daughter— Tsunade.”

“Grandaughter, yes. You know who is Mito-sama?” she nodded. Tsunade had recalled the memory of the deal between the Kanbayashi and their founding mother. Hiruzen wasn’t certain if that was the influence of the Archive or if it was common knowledge in her clan. “Do you know Tsunade?”

“... a bit.”

“Good. Do you know who I am?”

She shook her head.

“I’m Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Hokage of the Hidden Village in the Leaves. Do you know where you are?”

She shook her head again.

“You are in Fire Country. Do you know what a Hidden Village is?” 

Sachi took a few seconds to answer, mulling over her thoughts. Hiruzen didn’t know how much she understood from their conversation, but she nodded curtly, saying “... _ninja_.”

Hiruzen decided to ignore the way she said it, akin to an insult instead of a rank. “Yes, a Hidden Village has ninja in it.” had Biwako been there with him she would have rolled her eyes, bless her. 

Sachi, as expected, didn’t take kindly to being talked in a dumbed tone. “We are trying to help you, Sachi-kun, but you have to help us also. Your cousin brought you here because you were hurt, and Tsunade-chan has done a good job, don’t you think?”

More chakra flares.

“Sachi-kun, listen to me child.” he said sternly “You might be angry, and you may lash out, but remember this; we aren’t your enemy.”

Sachi hid herself more under the blanket, mortified. That meant that she knew who had killed her clan, hopefully understanding that she was in no position to put up a fight.

“Sumi-kun used the debt Mito-sama had towards the Kanbayashi. If you don’t trust us, at least trust in your cousin’s judgement.” that brought her some ease, keeping her distance still but with less chakra buzzing around. 

“I’m not here to hurt you, Sachi-kun, do you understand that? Good. Your cousin has explained your… situation, and it’s an upsetting one; but we don’t need to make it worse, don’t we? For that I need you to work with me, with _us_ , to help _you_.”

Slowly Sachi relaxed. Her chakra simmered down, a faint hum that was fading. Hiruzen tried very hard to gain Sachi’s trust, not so much a child but a threat. Hiruzen tried differentiating the two, Sachi and the Archive. However, the latter was a mystery and the former was two breaths away from lunging at him.

He had to be careful.

They had almost no information about the Kanbayashi, the creature that killed them and what the Archive truly entailed; the only one capable of answering that being Sachi. If they wanted answers they needed to tread cautiously. The little girl obviously didn’t trust them and had shown she was capable of destruction if frightened.

(Sachi did much worse if angry.)

The plan was to gain Sachi’s trust and slowly turn her around. Tsunade had expressed concern about mental trauma, as well as physical repercussions with seals applied to the brain, and so they treated Sachi as unstable for the time being. Once civilized, they would proceed to gain as much information they could, perhaps gain insight into the Archive. Finally, they would decide what to do with Sachi from there.

Hiruzen’s first step was to explain what happened to her cousin.

“Sumi-kun has perished, and he was very adamant about keeping your existence a secret. We couldn’t bury him, since that would rise questions that we can’t afford to give right now.” Sachi hung on every word, paying attention to him with unblinking eyes and swallow breaths “Given the circumstances, we have decided that the best course of action is to cremate his body.”

“Cre… mate?”

He really should have noticed how distraught Sachi was; not because she didn’t understand what he had told her, but because she did.

Tsunade entered shortly after, bringing with her a wine colored urn with her. Sachi stared blankly at her as she approached and handed her the urn. The girl took it with trembling hands, pulling the lid off immediately and shoving her hand in it.

Hiruzen and Tsunade watched dumbfounded as Sachi took out a handful of ash, the fine grain slipping through her fingers, leaving small shards of bone behind. Drip after drip, Sachi’s chakra akin to a broken faucet, began to leak.

“Sachi-kun—”

Naturally pale, Sachi’s skin turned grey. The blanket fell around her as she began to tremble, black lines slithering around her body. One didn’t need Tsunade’s sixth sense for medical emergencies to know that something was wrong with Sachi.

Sachi dropped Sumi’s urn, shattering the porcelain and scattering the ashes with a foreboding crack. The chakra repressing seal on Sachi’s forehead burst into flames, followed by a storm of killing intent and murder in her eyes.

Only then they realized that, perhaps, they should have asked first.

The explosion came a second later.

.

“Tsunade-sama, the reports— oh, long night?”

If utter exhaustion and frustration could take a human expression, it would probably be the one that Tsunade had currently on her face. Needless to say, it wasn’t a pretty one.

To say that she had a long night was an understatement; because there had been several of those. Sachi was a spawn straight from whatever icy hell the Kanbayashi came from, barricading herself in the east wing with so many seals that she had to send clones to avoid blowing up her hospital.

Sachi managed to destroy the entire room and paint the walls with her blood. Tsunade knew this because she had to scrub those damned seals out of every corner to make sure they didn’t go off and finish the demolition act she had going on. Every damn morning and evening. 

One had to wonder how such a small kid could do so much damage in a short amount of time. Tsunade had seen rage, especially the one mixed with grief, but never like that. Meant to hurt as much as possible, not caring for her own self if it she could inflict pain on others.

Sachi was petty like that.

Tsunade remembered Sachi crying, her body set aflame by golden light while she held her head between her hands. Between the seals, the explosions and their haste to hide everything before the ANBU came, Tsunade was convinced that the worst were the screams.

Agony and anguish; howls and screeches that rasped her throat raw. They haunted her even after they ended, echoing in her mind.

Tsunade had to flee with Sachi in her arms to put her in the west wing, since they claimed that the other one had a pipe malfunction and caused the explosions. Once secured under every padded hackle and strip she had, Tsunade proceeded to heal Sachi yet again.

Sumi hadn’t been lying when he said that emotions were a Kanbayashi’s bane. The scars around Sachi’s scalp opened again, which meant more chakra filled blood on the floor, which also meant even more unstable seals.

In summary, a very long night.

“Thank you, Nohara-san.” she gritted

And that wasn’t the worst part.

“... I’ll leave the reports here. Get some rest, Tsunade-sama.”

As if.

Sachi’s temper tantrum had caused the hospital to go into lockdown, believing that they were under attack. Hirzen took care of the administration and made up a bullshit excuse while she made sure Sachi didn’t cause any disasters.

They didn’t understand what caused her to snap, and how to remedy the situation. Sachi, as of yet, refused to speak a word to them. The little girl decided to stay in her corner, watching them with pure hatred, leaking killer intent from every pore of her being.

What bothered Tsunade was that Sachi refused to speak to them. After the incident, and disposal of Sumi’s ashes, Sachi had shut herself away. She had caught glimpses of her staring at the walls, crawling matrixes on her skin and on the tiles—

Like snakes in the grass.

Jiraiya had taught her seals, or tried. She knew the medical ones, like the blood stoppers or the paralyzing ones. Her grandmother had shown her the bijuu seal once, and her granduncle had taught her the basics when she was a child.

Tsunade, for all her knowledge, couldn’t make out what those seals were. She had had her suspicions when healing Sachi the first time, chalking up to being under stress for not recognizing the matrixes. Now, she knew better.

Sachi’s seals were not regular fuuinjutsu.

Adding that to the language barrier, the obvious spite she had for them and the Archive, Sachi was starting to paint a very dangerous picture.

Speaking of which, Tsunade had to check on her. The hospital had been busy, more so after a mission gone wrong that she had to work through all day long. Because of that, she had been unable to see if that little tyke was still brooding in her room, and if she was being honest, she didn’t want to.

The whole Kanbayashi mess was taking a toll on her. She had seen the memories of her grandmother, and Sumi had told her that those very same memories were currently in that girl’s brain. Uzushio was there too, adding insult to injury, and who knows what else Sachi had in her possession.

Getting up and cracking her spine, Tsunade set off towards the west wing. Nurses and medics rushed past her, some greeting her and others mimicking her expression of exhaustion. Everyone had work to do, including the janitors. Especially the janitors.

Sachi’s new room was on the ground floor, tucked away in a hallway that no one really went to unless they were crowded.

Like today.

“Oh, Tsunade-sama! I’ll finish up here and I’ll be ready to use.” A janitor, Tsukasa said to her when he spotted her. 

“Thank you for the hard work.”

“It’s no problem ma’am, but Sage knows who used it before, they left all the blankets with blood!”

Sure enough, Tsukasa’s cart was filled with blankets and bed covers filled with blood. It wasn’t a strange sight in a hospital, a ninja one no less. What caught her eye was one of the blankets, with a red circle and a kanji written in the center.

A shiver ran down her spine, realization creeping slowly in her sleep deprived mind. 

“Which rooms have you cleaned?” she demanded in a brisk tone, feeling the ground shift beneath her. “Which room?!”

“R-rooms,t-ten, eleven and…” The old man stammered at her anger. “Twelve.”

Sachi’s room.

Rushing to the room Tsunade found it squeaky clean and devoid of any eight-year-olds that possessed the biggest recording of information ever conceived. 

“Fuck!”

.

Sachi, by all accounts, was not an idiot.

That would explain how a little girl had not only managed to break from the hospital, a heavily monitored institution; but how she had also sneaked her way across a village she didn’t know and how not one patrol or ninja had detected her as she crossed the gate towards the forest.

Of course, that same little girl knew seals better than words. Moreover, she had an entire week with only her mind that helped her process all the information she gathered from and concoct a plan.

It consisted in a very simple, yet effective, tactic:

A notice-me-not seal.

Sachi’s favourite invention. It didn’t grant invisibility, but it did distort her immediate surroundings for her presence to be dismissed. She had been nervous about going under the noses of ninjas, who by Sumi’s words where _“a troublesome bunch that will cut your throat if you aren’t careful”_ before adding _“don’t piss them off”_ ; but when the guards at the gates didn’t notice her, she relaxed.

Sachi had been a little disappointed in them. She had heard stories, about the mercenaries of the Continent that every traveler needed to stay away from. They had lost Kanbayashi to ninja before, their habits and goals overlapping; sometimes, there could only be one winner.

Of course, she had also taken pride in her seal. Precaution had mover her hand as she put her blood into the blanket she was using as cover. Normally, Sachi would only need one drop of blood for the seal to form. Now, however, she needed to be careful, for her blood was charged with chakra and that could set off her seal. Sachi knew very well what happened when a blood seal went wrong, and she didn’t need to wound her body even more.

Thus the extra matrixes. Sachi had used two stabilizing matrixes that would support the main one, adding even more connectors that reinforced the relationship between all three of them to ensure that she didn’t blow herself up. The only drawback was that she needed more chakra to keep the seal functioning.

Sachi stopped near a rock formation covered with moss on just one side. The blanket fell off her shoulders, no longer nuclear white but stained with red and brown. Sachi nicked a finger, retracing the familiar sigils with her blood and chakra. Her pathways were useless, true, but at least she could use chakra via her blood, which worked brilliantly when you used blood seals on the daily.

Maybe being crippled wasn’t _that_ bad.

The seal flashed one second before settling, the buzz of her chakra keeping it alive as she tied it around herself once more. Sachi started running again, she had no time to waste.

Around her, the forest was coming alive. The young Archive was still coming to terms with seeing the sun and moon chasing one another every twelve hours. It felt wrong, unnatural to spot the moon during the summer just as watching the sun rise in winter.

The strangeness didn’t end there. As she ran across the forest floor, with actual earth beneath her shoes instead of snow, Sachi could feel the life brimming around her.

From the songs of the birds, so many and so loud, to the calls of beings that she heard in the distance. There were tracks of animals that she hadn’t seen, the prints foreign that she avoided at all costs. It didn’t matter, since the beasts that lived in that forest ran away from her just as much, instead of after her.

That was another jarring realization. The forest was… _kind_.

The redwoods giants made an intimidating sight. Red trunks that rose so up into the sky that shielded it completely, not letting the moonlight slip through between the bushy canopies. And yet, its leaves were wide, the size of her palm; with soft edges and in every shade of green. There was forgiveness in them, a passive sort of existence that clashed with the nature Sachi was accustomed to. 

The Needle Forest was harsh, cruel and merciless; it demanded a toll of blood for anyone that dared enter it.

The Redwoods were the opposite. They welcomed everyone and everything. Sachi passed clearings that had shiny blades of grass with morning dew on them, colorful flowers like drops of paint across a green canvas. There were willows with draping branches, and oaks that took to width instead of height.

Green. So much _green_.

Sachi had grown up shielding her eyes from the blinding snow. Now, under the shade of the gentle giants where green and brown and a myriad other minute splashes of color where the norm, Sachi’s perception of normalcy was slowly cracking.

She had seen the memories of the travelers, but reality was much more… imposing. Sachi could feel the breeze that rattled the crowns above, the little creatures that had too many legs climb onto her as she went down valleys and climbed hills of rock. The slumber of the forest was deep an unbothered, the old beings not stirring as she rushed through them. 

The notice-me-not seal did not work on the ancient ones, and yet none had come up to meet her or strike her down for stepping on a land not her own.

Sachi hated it.

Every glance she took was a reminder that she wasn’t home yet. A despairing sight, nothing she could hold onto to know that she is on the right path. The redwoods were clement, but crushed her nonetheless.

The earth was wrong, the air was strange and the water warm; all of them amiss except the sky.

Sachi squided to a halt into a clearing, recovering her breath. Her eyes searched the sky for True North, the star of the travelers. A beacon of hope when her world had crumbled to the ground, a guide for her pained soul in search of peace. Despite being so far away from home, the stars remained the same, more tilted than not but comforting all the same.

True North will take her home.

The sky was starting to clear around the edges, a few more hours until the sun rose. She had ran for a full day, the first hours filled with apprehension and fear of being discovered.

The seal worked perfectly.

Sachi was confident in her seals, but ninja were quick to act on their suspicion. There was a small possibility that the leader of the village would not give chase; or maybe that she would reach the hopping seal near the Handa village, that would take her to Rice Country before they got to her, but she wasn’t betting on it.

Sachi was not an idiot. There was a motive why the Kanbayashi had not advertized their existence; and now that she was the very last one of them, she couldn’t trust no one.

Certainly not those that had burned Sumi’s corpse. They had come into the room carrying an urn with a parody of the vivacious red that represented her cousin. They had come and told her that it was “the best option”, as if becoming ashes was any better than rotting inside a wooden box.

Heathens, the lot of them. 

How would Sumi pass now? With his body not returned to the snow by the owls and his soul not heralded by the wolf that ate his flesh? Panic rose in her throat in the form of bile that tasted like iron; the thought of her dear cousin, who had given his life to protect her once more, not being able to rest until he was reborn made her want to scream and wail.

But she wouldn’t.

Sumi was dead, and he had kept his promise. It hurt, gnawing at her heart because the only thing that remained from the man that he had been was a shattered urn and the memories he had passed onto her.

Sachi didn’t have time to mourn now, she needed to run and to go back home, where everything would be right again.

 _Home_.

The pain blossomed again, deep and constant. Her body couldn’t withstand the heat, the burn underneath her skin prompting her to keep running until she reached the soothing cold. 

True North beckoned again.

 _Home_.

No time to think, no time to dwell. Sachi was the last of the Kanbayashi, the Archive, and far away from home. 

Sachi was not an idiot; she started running again.

.

Inuzuka Ashi was the matriarch of the Inuzuka Clan. One of their best kunoichi and one of the most proficient ANBU Captains, with her companion Haiiro posing a formidable team; their mission count able to shame any aspiring ninja.

The Sandaime Hokage knew this, Tsunade knew this, and everyone that had met her would testify that Ashi was honest and loyal. That is why they had been sent on a high risk mission to obtain information about a dangerous group of outlaws that had fled to Iron Country, fully confident that they would accomplish it or die trying.

“Could you say it one more time?” Hiruzen pleaded, his headache turning worse and worse.

Ashi, experienced and weathered, hesitated. Haiiro was at her side, his cold nose grounding her from her stupor.

“We were coming back from our mission in Iron Country…”

.

Despite being in the middle of the Northern Belt, Iron Country was a neutral country. It didn’t employ any of the ninja forces from the neighbouring hidden villages, and has managed to stay out of any conflict that rose between them.

Iron, despite its good intentions, had a small problem.

Because of that neutrality, the country had become somewhat of a safe haven for outlaws and criminals. Prosecution from any Elemental Country without approval of the General of Iron meant an international scandal that could compromise the weapon supplies that they sold to the rest of the Continent.

But when you were someone of Ashi and Haiiro’s caliber, it didn’t matter.

They sneaked their way into the country, found their targets and proceeded to spy on them for two months. Everything was fine and merry until they stumbled into a group of samurais.

One of the reasons ninja tended to avoid going to Iron, besides the sheer cold, was their military force. Samurais did not stand ninjas in any way, their first impulse was to poke them with their katanas or maybe throw them into those freezers they called cells. Naturally, the Inuzuka left immediately after they realized samurais caught their scent; their mission was done anyway.

To avoid their presence being pinned to Leaf, they diverted towards Rice Country, another neutral country that at least was tame enough not to pose an outright threat. As they fled Ashi’s only thoughts were about retiring; they were getting too old for fooling around.

Rice was filled with grassy and swamped fields, the rice paddies the country named after present in every corner of the country; tourists might enjoy sightseeing but ninjas hated being in the open. 

They rushed through the country until they reached their familiar redwoods, the old dog using his still young nose to search for a good resting point. They needed to gather their strength, for they had at least two days of travel. Late as they were, having more delays would only make the Hokage to rule them as KIA.

Tsume would kill them both if she had to cremate them, because once they died her sister would be next in line for Clan Head. No one was looking forward to that.

Nearing the border Haiiro’s fur stood on end. Ashi, used to her partners tells, asked “What you have?” 

Haiiro stopped, looking down at the ground. “Blood.”

That was the kind of delay that Ashi didn’t need at the moment.

Making a few hand signals, they argued how to proceed. Haiiro pointed below, using his snout to trace the last movements of the scent. The Inuzuka hounds were trained to detect chakra, among other common scents, and Haiiro was never wrong.

 _Young_ , he told her with his body language, _young and wounded._

They were near the border, far away from the village that could be anyone. Ashi asked him if he recognized the scent but he shook his head. She watched as he flattened himself against the branch they were standing on, his ears pinned back and his tail still. Ashi tampered her chakra down, catching the scent of blood.

It was approaching.

The Inuzuka had heightened senses, and despite wearing a mask, she was sure of her skills. Her sight was being distorted, almost like a genjutsu but not quite. Masking her presence, she followed the foreign buzz of chakra from the forest floor, the leaves and the dirt muffling the steps.

For a moment Ashi believed that the exhaustion was finally getting to her, but then Haiiro bared his fangs silently. The scent was clear, but her sight was blurry. 

Underneath the tree was a child running with a blanket as a cape. They both followed in baffled silence as the kid, a little girl, stopped abruptly. She looked around, and Ashi could hear something akin to heavy breathing drowned by the forest. She struggled to keep her eyes on her, an unfamiliar pull prompting her to _continue her journey_ and to _look away_. They were lucky that they were so high in the canopies or that alien force would have driven them away.

Haiiro bit her calf lightly, his grey eyes sharp and serious as he pointed to the child. Blood she could smell, but there was something else.

 _Illness_. 

Ashi had done enough rounds in their clinic to know what a fever smells like, the pyrogens released into the bloodstream carrying a sweet aroma. The girl did look up but didn’t see them, holding on to her blanket — and what were those circles? — and continuing her stride. 

They watched her stumble but not once stopping, the smell of blood, fever and something else high in the air. Ashi knew that the girl didn’t have much time left before she collapsed, but then again...

What was doing a little girl running through the forest? 

‘ _Follow?_ ’ asked Haiiro moving his head.

They had to go back to the village, no need to check on wandering little girls. Something was wrong, a nudging feeling that bothered her. If her memory served her right there wasn’t a settlement or a village near, the border too dangerous for anyone to stay with the aftertaste of war so fresh. Not even a road for the caravans or travelling merchants, just plain old forest for miles and miles. 

What was she doing there?

A few minutes they could spare, to make sure, she argued. Just in case. Haiiro understood and followed her as they went a few trees back. The girl ran fast but she had to stop to catch her breath. Everytime she coughed they could hear sloppy, wet sounds. How she had managed to get the flu in the middle of summer was a mystery, but it had to be pretty bad if she was swaying from side to side.

Dropping to lower branches, Ashi could see the girl better, although the strange feeling persisted. She was wearing a loose white tunic and rolled up pants, with too big shoes. The outfit wasn’t strange per se, a little big on her yes, but not that concerning.

What did bother her was the scent of a too familiar detergent, that she knew for a fact only the hospital used.

Now _that_ was interesting.

Haiiro noticed as well, casting a confused glance towards her. They went ahead silently, trying to see if the girl had a forehead protector or not. The girl was coughing more, choking and hissing through her teeth. Ashi wondered just how long she had been running, and why?

From where?

From _who_?

The distortion was starting to bother her. She was familiar with genjutsu, cloaked in one herself, and she could confirm that it wasn’t that. Using the hand sign to dispel it could alert the girl of their presence, the sudden chakra burst too risky for her to use. She didn’t appear to be a sensor type, or she would have noticed them by now, and too young to be a ninja yet. She couldn’t have been older than ten, and she would have heard something if a genius had sprouted in their Academy. Moreover, she wouldn’t have been out there alone.

They didn’t need to be told that the situation was shady at best. From the uneasy jutsu the girl was using, the clothes, and her scent— something was going on.

Haiiro asks through his body language if they engage; Ashi considers it.

The girl takes a few steps and crashes against a tree, sliding down slowly. The cloying scent of sickness thickens, so heavy that Ashi can taste it at the back of her tongue. Haiiro curls his nose, more sensitive than hers, and frowns. 

‘ _Chakra. Blood_ ’ he signals to her.

Ashi can pick up the buzz of chakra, but in the same way one can taste water, it’s there but it has no flavor; the girl’s chakra was the same, with no other feature than just the buzz. Affinities changed chakra, for example, a fire affinity would have a slightly smoky feeling to it, whereas lightning was akin to static. Depending on the concentration of either Yin or Yang, it would be more powerful or controlled. Even civilians, or people with undeveloped chakra systems, had an affinity.

For the girl, Ashi could sense nothing. No affinity, no influence, no _nothing_ ; only the humm of agitated chakra around her like an angry hive of wasps. Ashi could taste the blood too, and between each wet cough, both chakra and blood intensified.

Haiiro was right, there was chakra _in_ the blood.

Several red flags were flaring in Ashi’s mind. Questions rising, who was that girl, what was she doing alone, why was she dressed with a nurse uniform, why was she sick—?

Ashi knew that the Hokage won’t be happy with them for coming late, but he will be even angrier if they let something weird happen in their territory.

Because Ashi was a kunoichi, she took out a kunai from her pouch with a flick of her wrist without so much as the light catching the edge. Haiiro, sensing the change in her demeanor adjusted, spreading his paws and licking his lips. They could hear the girl moan in pain, huffing as she pressed her back to the trunk of the tree and clawed at the blanket she was wearing. 

The girl was weakened, sick and feverish; she will stand no chance.

In the split second they took to materialize at her side a crack thundered across the forest, sending them both to the ground with no air left in their lungs and no response from their muscles.

The girl yelps, the scream caught in her throat with an unflattering croak. She falls back, and Ashi can see that her hands are coated with blood. 

Next came the panic.

For a kunoichi of Ashi’s caliber, and a ninken of Haiiro’s, it was shameful to have fallen for such a trap. Ashi can feel the anxiety rising, because her body is stiff as a board and Haiiro’s face had frozen in a snarl.

They were completely immobilized. 

They could only take shallow breaths, the pain in their diaphragm too great for them to try to do something harsh. Ashi tried dispelling the jutsu with a burst of chakra, but it only frightened the girl more.

The scent of fear is acrid and pungent, and the girl is looking at them with terror. Ashi, at the back of her mind, marvels at how bright her eyes are; yellow and nearly out of her orbits. The girl’s eyes dart behind her, and they widen even more. Her skin is pale, flushed from the fever, but it bleaches instantly as she catches sight of her partner.

And then, she throws up.

Ashi would have flinched if she could, the stench of bile, blood and fear overpowering her senses. Haiiro was close to tears.

A pull and a twist, Ashi’s chakra was being drained. Her muscles twitched under her skin, small and painful sparks of chakra as it fought the intrusion in her system. Something was blocking her chakra, but not enough to kill her yet. The Hyuuga had a similar move with their clan secret techniques, where blocking a chakra gate could prove fatal. 

Haiiro groaned, a strangled sound that meant pain for him too. A ninken had a different chakra system, and what for a human was dangerous, for a ninken was deathly.

The thought of losing her partner was enough for Ashi to fight even harder against that… _thing_ that had paused her chakra system. She could feel it shift but not budge. 

Meanwhile, the girl gathered her wits and spit the last remnants of her stomach, going from white to green at concerning speed. Ashi would have felt pity if not for the fact that the little fucker had disarmed them instantly.

How?

Speaking was useless when your vocal cords were paralyzed, but Ashi could hear the girl speak. It was a grating sound, syllabes that she hasn’t heard save for dying men and delirious cats. She was hissing, her lips trembling as she tried to get up.

“ _...please…_ ” she said in a whisper.

The fever had went worse. The girl tried getting up and failing, rolling in the leaves with what was her last strength. As it happened, Ashi felt the presence weaken minutely, a last attempt at holding in before disappearing.

She didn’t move anymore.

Ashi and Haiiro breathed out at the same time, gasping for air as their instincts were telling them to stab the enemy and cut them to pieces.

“Fuck.” were Haiiro’s words as he tried putting his limbs under him “You good?”

Ashi nodded, her body still spasming, unable to do anything more than even her breathing and stare ahead. The little girl laid on the forest floor, the blanket awkwardly around her body and rising in short intervals. There are circles and lines on the fabric, a quick sniff indicating that it’s blood.

She didn’t need to be an Uzumaki to recognize a seal. 

Haiiro gets up behind her, huffing curses as Ashi makes sure that the girl is out cold before approaching. Ashi tries to take her pulse but withdraws instantly as the heat startles her. The girl is _burning_.

“The fuck happened?” he asks, not taking another step until she deems it safe. “Is she alive?”

Trust Haiiro to show sympathy for their enemies.

Ashi tries again. Pushing her around with one foot gains her no response; she fainted. “Barely.” she answers Haiiro, who doesn’t need confirmation to know that the girl is in a really bad shape. If the fever continues to go up without medical assistance, the girl will not make it through the night. 

“What are we gonna do now?”

The girl had pleaded in her last breath. She had begged them for something; it troubled Ashi, to not know what was going on. The girl had a way with seals, because there was no other explanation as to how they almost dropped dead near her, but she was dying. Wearing a nurse uniform but no identification, they could have stumbled upon a foreign spy. Normal procedure was to disarm the target and bring them to the village for a through check up in T&I to strip away any of their intentions. They rarely ended well.

“Check for scents.” the dog put his nose on the girl without complaint, Ashi checking over him in case the seal had after effects. 

Ashi’s chakra was acting up, but it was easing rapidly. She didn’t want to assume the seal was tied to the girl, who was slowly fading away before her eyes, but it did have some parallels. Her control was good enough after four decades of practice, and a diagnosis jutsu told her that her partner was in relative good health, if not a little shaken up.

“This smells like Leaf.” said Haiiro, carefully scenting her clothes and skin “... and, damn, the princess.”

“Our princess?”

“Yep.”

The princess meant none other than Senju Tsunade. If that woman had came in contact with the girl then... this was getting more and more complicated. Ashi didn’t question her partner, his nose more trustworthy than her intuition at the moment.

What should they do? There wasn’t a protocol to deal with suspicious children running in the woods with incriminating scents on them; much less when they knew how to use seals. If they left, she wouldn’t make it; if they took her with them, she won’t survive the journey.

“Fuck this.”

.

Ashi and Haiiro made camp for the night, securing the girl while Haiiro put up the perimeter.

The girl was small, but carrying dead weight for that many hours took a toll on her already tired shoulders. Also, she didn’t want to go into the village while it was still daylight, not with a child after her and a very strange story to tell the Hokage.

Her report was going to be a pain to write.

“Clear.” Haiiro said, inching closer with his nose on the ground “How’s the pup?”

Ah.

“She’s not a pup.” she chided. Her partner huffed, but didn’t argue “I healed the scratches, so she should be waking up soon”.

At least she hoped so. Ashi didn’t want to bring the corpse of a child and then be sent to T&I for a ‘little chat’. Ninjas were messed up, that was undisputable, but there were some boundaries that included not bringing back bodies if not necessary. She was still trying to come up with a good explanation as to why she took her, even though she trusted Haiiro, it was still strange to associate the white haired girl with the Senju princess.

“Should I hunt a rabbit?” he asked. 

“I can put up traps if you’re too tired.”

Haiiro gave her a flat look, “Your traps won’t catch a blind rabbit, and I don’t want to starve, thank you very much.”

“They aren’t that bad!”

Haiiro, the damn dog, scoffed before setting off. 

“What an ass,” but there was no bite. “Guess we’re stuck together, huh”

The girl didn’t say anything.

Ashi was growing concerned. Normally a child bounced back from injuries, and just a slight knock out shouldn’t have left that girl in a coma. When the feeling came back in her left arm she had had ran a diagnosis jutsu on her to make sure that there were no underlying issues. Apart from the black lines that appeared every time chakra got near her skin, there was… something else.

Ashi had felt something reach for her as she sent her chakra through her body. A phantom touch that had her flinching back. The Inuzuka matriarch expertise laid in veterinary medicine, but she was certain that it wasn’t normal for something to reach out for her as she tried healing the girl.

The moment had been brief, Ashi not risking messing the girl up even more after she discovered the damage in her chakra pathways. No wonder her blood had chakra in it, with her system so torn apart it was a miracle she was still alive.

And thus was her concern.

Haiiro had picked Tsunade’s scent on the girl, which would explain why she was still kicking even though she seemed to have been split apart and put together badly. Although, it failed to throw some light on why that girl was not in the hospital and prowling around Fire Country.

Ashi took out a pair of kunais, just in case. They had a surprise too many with the girl and she was taking no chances for another child coming from the sky. The Inuzuka sharpened her weapons, a grounding technique while in the open. They would eat and rest until the morning; from there it was a little more than half a day to reach the village, just as the sun set. Haiiro would be going ahead to notice the Hokage of their… emergency, hopefully gain a hearing and then—

And then what?

The girl’s chest raised and lowered as she slept. She was worryingly thin, with a map of scars and something else that she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. Tsunade might have healed her, but why? Was the girl important? If so, what was she doing so far away from the village?

In summary:  _ what the fuck happened? _

Ashi felt the girl’s chakra stir. It was barely contained, so it gave her an aura of electricity that flickered from time to time; it tickled her nose.

“Ah, you’re finally awake.” she said, trying for a gentler approach.

The girl’s eyes snap open, and Ashi’s mind is reminded of ambar jewels, but filled with a simmering anger. She looks at the bindings on her hands and ankles before glaring up at her.

“Don’t look at me like that, darlin’,” Ashi told her, setting the kunai down, “If you behave I might consider untying you, but I can also put more wire if you don’t.”

The warning rings true as the girl’s chakra flares when her face remains carefully still. The girl sits up with some struggle, obviously in pain but plays it off by looking around.

There wasn’t too much to see, really. They stopped under a hollow sequoia, enough cover if the dark clouds didn’t disperse and decided to go for a summer storm. It was getting late, the light snuffed out because of the clouds and the late hour.

She also looked with a dismayed expression at the only entrance, the same Ashi was guarding in case she got ideas and bolted. Again. Tiny she might be but she ran like the devil.

“So,” she began, catching her attention “wanna tell me your name?”

The girl remained silent, testing the bindings on her wrists. Ashi was waited patiently until she got frustrated, huffed and set daggers with her eyes. “They aren’t coming off, darlin’, not until you tell me a few things first, ‘kay?”

“Will you tell me yours?” she said, Ashi catching the weird pronunciation. Not from Fire, then.

“What?”

“Your name, will you tell me yours if I say mine?”

Ashi was still on active duty, meaning, she was absolutely not allowed to give her real name. Instead, she went with her cover name, “Call me Asami.”

The girl’s chakra flickered once, “Call me Michiko, then.”

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not,” she said, “You said ‘call me’ instead of ‘my name is’. We can call each other any name, but it wouldn’t be our true names.”

That was fast. “Aren’t you a smart one, hmm?” Maybe the girl was older than she looked; wordplay won’t work on her. “Well, Michiko, I’m pleased to meet you, even though I hadn’t expected to meet you in such a strange place.”

‘Michiko’ didn’t try to explain herself, awarding her an unimpressed look that gave her an impression that, somehow, a child was judging her interrogation skills; which was extremely rude. Active interrogation had always been Inoichi’s expertise, whereas Ashi had focused on observation and infiltration. Might as well use them.

“Look, darlin’ I know you don’t want to speak with me but I’m not your enemy,” ‘Michiko’ raised her bound hands, fuming “but I can be. The only thing that’s keeping me from not knocking you out is my curiosity, so please indulge me if you don’t wanna take a nap.”

Just for emphasis, Ashi started sharpening the kunais again.’Michiko’ shuffled a little bit away, resting her back against the bark of the tree; not a ninja, not even an Academy student. She didn’t exhibit the conditioning that children from ninja villages had with the stiffness on her shoulders that hid the trembling; she was afraid of kunais, but not in the same way that civilians were. 

Hidden villages’ civilians regarded ninja weapons as tools and even though they were uneasy they had gotten accustomed to them; that girl was not familiar with kunais, and saw them as knives.

So, not from a ninja village then.

“What’s going to be, darlin’?”

The Inuzuka kept smoothing the thinly veiled threats with pet names, a sort of good cop, bad cop all in a sentence. ‘Michiko’ didn’t seem that pleased, but at least she spoke next “Why did you tie me up?”

“Oh no, darlin’ that’s not how this works.” Ashi told her with a chuckle. She was the one guiding the conversation, and not the other way around. ‘Michiko’ had enough courage to take control but not enough to keep trying when Ashi waved the kunai with a fast swipe. “Our deal is answers for cutting the binds, understood?”

‘Michiko’ gave a curt nod.

“Good. What’s your true name?”

“Sachi.” she hissed.

Truth. 

“How old are you?”

“Eight.”

“What’s your favourite color?”

Sachi was confused, blinking slowly before answering “... yellow.”

“What’s your favourite food?”

“Why are you asking this—?” when Ashi waved the kunai she added “Salmon.”

“Saltwater or freshwater salmon?”

“Saltwater.”

“You like sweet or savoury snacks?”

“Both?”

“Favourite season?”

“Winter.”

“Favourite hobby?”

“Umm, reading.”

Sachi had had to come from somewhere along the shore. Rice, Iron Country? Maybe even Frost. Salmon grew best in cold waters, so from the north. She had no preference over sweets or salty foods, meaning that she had been familiar with both. Ashi had had a slight suspicion that she might have been homeless or a victim of human trafficking; even an escapee from the circus or a moving caravan. Since she liked to read she couldn’t have been neither of those, not when children were expected to work non stop. Winter was also an unusual choice, since Fire Country didn’t have winters but slightly chilly months. 

So, a mid to upper class home or family from the north; educated but not ninja related. Everything pointed to Iron Country.

“Where are your parents?”

Sachi turned somber immediately, looking down “Dead.”

Ashi could scent the sadness coming from her. Grief. The demise of her parents must have been recent or she would have hid her reaction better. 

“No more family or an orphan?”

That question seemed to hurt her more than asking if her parents were dead. Sachi’s chakra flared in a cloud of thunder, the fizzle sharp and angered. Ashi could only suppose that she had been closer to those outside her immediate family, which foreshadowed issues that Ashi didn’t want to dwell on. It was interesting, though, to see her react so viscerally.

“Dead.” she repeated, spitting the word.

“Do you know how to swim?”

“Yes.”

The sudden change in conversation made her chakra plummet. Apparently, Sachi’s mind liked to answer directly despite her obviously unstable mental state, a reflex that spoke of being questioned frequently. 

A strict household? Her family was dead, but Sachi’s grief was bittersweet. There was anger and hurt, the acrid scent of fear and panic that was deeper than the little scuffle they had a few hours prior. Not something that one would expect from being suddenly orphaned. 

Close and yet detached. There had to be something attached to the grief she was wearing on her skin, a burden that came from being left for last. Sachi wanted to be sad, and she was, but she was also furious, and that anger overpowered her pain.

“What kind of books do you read?”

“All kinds.” she said after considering it for a few seconds.

Another point to educated then. Ashi was starting to think that maybe Sachi was somehow related to the General of Iron, but given she had been there on the recon mission she would have heard if something like one of the nobility clans suddenly died. Iron had a tendency towards male rulers, but females could step in if the need arose. Perhaps Sachi had been used as a hostage? 

It didn’t make sense.

Sachi had come from Fire Country but going  _ towards  _ the north. Iron Country couldn’t be the place she came from and Rice Country nobility consisted in farmers which Sachi’s white skin disproved. That left Waterfall and Frost, without considering Lightning because of the same reason as Rice; and Earth because Fire wouldn’t have helped a worm. Those were all the countries that formed the Northern Belt, except Hot Springs but Ashi was certain that Sachi hadn’t set a foot there because of the absence of sulphur in her scent.

“Where are you going?”

And wasn’t that a loaded question. Ashi had not expected an answer, Sachi very well capable of shutting up and refusing to continue their little game.

“Home,” she said in a small voice, “I want to go  _ home. _ ”

Ashi knew she was treating with a child, one that had had to suffer a great amount of trauma, and yet the way Sachi had said  _ ‘home’  _ made something stir in her chest. Careful, almost a whisper and filled with a deep sense of regret and desperation. Ashi had heard the same tone during the war from the mouths of the soldiers that had been broken so much by it that the only thing that had kept them alive was holding on the concept of home and family.

_ “Home, I want to go back home” _ they would say, borderline afraid of saying it outloud in case they died in the next moment. Generally, they did; dying far away from the place that brought them comfort, peace. 

Sachi exuded the same type of loneliness. They say that eyes are the mirrors of the soul, and Ashi could say that Sachi was barely hanging from the thinnest thread. Amidst the debilitating solitude, Sachi refused to give up. 

She leaned forward, her tiny bones cracking loudly in the hollow of the redwood tree. Her chakra filled the silence next, a sudden surge of strength that was more a desperate act of staying sane than a show off.  _ “I will go home.” _ and she bit every word as only a feral dog would. 

All teeth and no bark.

Cute. Ashi matched Sachi’s chakra flare with one of her own, overpowering the fizzle with what could only be described as a slap. Sachi recoiled back, simmering down quickly. Ashi was the alpha of her clan; letting puppies bite her ankles was not an option.

Sachi had a frown on her face, her lips tensed in a straight line. 

“It sucks that your family is dead, darlin’ but don’t get too cocky with me.” Ashi noted  _ stubborn  _ on her intel report. “Speaking of which, you’ve told me no surname.”

The girl with the golden eyes said nothing. 

“Darlin’ I’m giving you the last warning—”

“It doesn’t matter,” Sachi said, “They are all dead. It doesn’t matter.”

What a cheery response.

“I think it does. I mean, they are dead but you aren’t. As long as you are alive it matters.”

Ashi hadn’t intended to make such an effect on the little girl. Sachi snapped her eyes wide and Ashi could smell the saltiness of tears no yet spilt. “Y-you think?” she asked, her voice strained.

“Of course. Now, what’s your surname?”

“Kanbayashi.”

“Never heard of it.” which was strange in on itself. Kanbayashi didn’t ring a bell in any of the important families, at least in the Continent.

As a specialized kunoichi in recon and intel, Ashi knew the upper class socialites in case she came across them. Not because they were dangerous but because they were hell to deal with on a good day. Kanbayashi was not in that list, the closest Ashi could think being Asuyoshi but that clan was all the way in Lightning. Sachi hadn’t lied, her body reacting in the same way in which she said her true name.

“Where is your family from?”

“The Heart.”

“Come again?”

“The Heart,” she insisted slowly, “the Heart of the Needle Tree.”

_ What?  _

Ashi read her chakra, absent of any indication that she was lying. Either Sachi knew how to fool an Inuzuka or she had hit her head very hard.

“Your family comes from a  _ tree _ ?”

She nodded.

“Like this one?” Ashi looked around the sequoia. Perhaps the Heart had been a small village in a pine forest?

“Nu-uh, bigger. Like, a lot bigger, up to the sky and then it spreads,” she makes a gesture with her bound hands “it has sharp needles.”

Ashi was pretty sure that the redwoods were the biggest trees in the Continent, growing so high that sometimes it was difficult to breathe at the top. If that ‘Needle Tree’ was bigger than the sequoias then Ashi wanted to see it too.

“So, let me summarize. Your family came from this Needle Tree,” Sachi opened her mouth to correct her but Ashi went on “bear with me. I assume it’s somewhere in the north, right? Good. You say your family is dead and that you are going home. What I don’t understand is what are you doing  _ here. _ ”

Sachi was going home, not running away from it. How did she get in Fire Country in the first place? Sneaky she might be but it wasn’t enough to cross several countries back and forth without attracting some sort of attention. 

“My cousin brought me here.” 

Now she has a cousin?

“Where’s your cousin?”

“Dead.”

Not anymore.

“Wait a second. So, your cousin took you here, but why? Where you attacked or something?”

Sachi flinched slightly and Ashi regretted being so straightforward. She recovered quickly, although a little miffed “My cousin took me to someone... to heal me.” 

“Could be that that someone was a lady named Senju Tsunade?”

Sachi’s chakra startled before she could hide it. So she  _ did  _ know the hime. Tsunade could be intimidating, one of the Sannin no less, but she didn’t get the habit of scaring her patients so thoroughly that they remained scarred for life. Sachi was in the latter, blanching again and giving off the scent of fear. 

Ashi remembered the strange scars on the girl’s body. Ashi didn’t want to believe that Tsunade had tortured a little girl, not because she though she was unfit for it — Tsunade could break bones and heal them just as easily— but because she didn’t see why it would be necessary. 

A he adache was forming at her temples. Nothing was clear. Educated but lacking in some areas, alone but resourceful, strange past and relations to Leaf. Sachi’s cousin had brought her to Leaf to heal her, meaning that the injuries had been made before coming to the village. Yet Sachi was running  _ towards  _ the place her cousin had taken her away from while remaining frightened about the woman that possibly saved her life.

_ What was going on? _

“You got pretty big scars.” she remarked and even though Ashi couldn’t see them Sachi curled herself protectively “Tsunade-sama healed you right? Shouldn’t you be in the hospital still?”

That question made her jump, guilt written all over her face. 

“Did… did you break out from the hospital?”

Sachi looked away.

“Darlin’...” Ashi was at a loss. The hospital had guards for this very reason, since ninjas were very sensitive about closed spaces that weren’t their homes. Ashi knew this because even herself struggled to sit still but never ever did she try to get away before the medics let her do so. It was a very bad idea to piss off the medical staff, mostly because sooner or later you would end up in the hospital again and they won’t be so nice. “How did you do it?”

There was always a few ANBU guarding the hospital, making sure no one tried to finish a job in killing one of their comrades; Ashi had been one of them. They would keep an eye on every exit, including the underground ones connected to the ANBU section of the hospital. The windows and doors were trapped with only the medical staff (and the guards) having the key to open them without getting zapped to the Pure Lands.

How did a child slip by the watchful eye of ANBU  _ and  _ Tsunade without being caught? And how did she even manage to get out of the village?

“Sachi, answer me.” 

“I answered many questions!”

“Yeah, no. You are supposed to be still in the hospital, what are you doing here? Why did you run away? And how?”

“Too many questions,” she huffed but Ashi could tell she was trying to change the subject, “I don’t—”

“Darlin’, look at me.” Sachi did, her golden eyes glittering in the low light. “What did you do?”

“Nothing!” she exclaimed, “You don’t understand! They want to kill me—”

“What do you mean they want to kill you?”

That wasn’t possible. Why would they heal her just to kill her shortly after?

“They want to kill me.” she repeated, “They want to burn me too, I… I can’t, I can’t let them— you don’t understand!”

“Burn? Why would they want to burn you? Who’s  _ they _ ?” 

Ashi was getting lost.

Sachi’s chakra spiked “Mito-sama’s granddaughter and the man with the funny hat! They are bad, they burned Sumi! They burned him and they want to burn me too. I can’t die, I have to remember them right? I have to, I can’t—”

Sachi was having a full blown panic attack. Ashi’s repertoire at dealing with distressed children consisted on fleeing or finding a responsible adult. Obviously, neither was an option here, so she scoured her brain in for something to calm her.

“Sachi. Sachi! Take a deep breath darlin’, that’s it.” Ashi’s instincts were telling her to run, the chakra in the air not unlike the chakra of an exploding tag about to go off. Sachi was fumbling with the ninja wire at her wrists, only rubbing her skin raw and making her anxiety worse. Ashi’s nose was tingling again, “Sachi! What’s your favourite fruit! Quick!”

“They want to burn me!”

“Sachi! Remember our deal, you have to answer me!” Ashi let her chakra sweep once, shaking Sachi a bit to break her from the vicious cycle of a panic attack. It did something, since Sachi’s eyes snapped to her in a rage of golden and salty tears “What’s your favourite fruit?”

“Burn—”

“Is that your favourite fruit?”

Sachi’s chakra swayed with agitation and Ashi saw the exact moment when Sachi’s mind took a turn for the worse. It was as if the thin thread of her sanity just snapped. Black lines appeared on Sachi’s skin, climbing their way up to her face like greedy snakes. 

Ashi gripped her kunai harder.

“Watermelon.” Sachi said, in disbelief.

Sachi’s chakra dropped like a brick, quick and with a bang. Ashi didn’t know what had happened to Sachi but she was short a few marbles. The Inuzuka alpha could see trauma in her, fresh and trigger happy. It was the way that certain words made her crumble to the ground, how her chakra bled around her as the storm clouds above. The mysterious tattoos that came to life when she was in distress and how…  _ broken  _ she was.

Ashi had seen that kind of madness. It struck those that were too young to understand what happened to them and why they were feeling that way and so they… cracked. They tried to clung to normalcy by pretending they were the same as they once were. 

In most cases, they only crushed themselves further.

Trauma was hard to process, sometimes not processed at all. The result of that was a perturbed mind, like a bone not healed right; still functioning but not completely.

When Ashi looked at Sachi she saw the same. A pity, really, that children had to suffer such great tragedies so young; then again, Ashi had been a kunoichi since before she knew how to put two and two together. Sachi was not a ninja, lacking any conditioning for dealing with traumatic events, and so she shatters.

And yet, she pulls herself together. She takes the thread of sanity and ties the frayed ends together with nothing but anger and stubbornness.

Sachi’s chakra dies down, as much as the ever present buzz can, and meets her eyes with resolve. Is strange how much control she has over her mind and body; to stop her instincts and cut them from the root and continue forwards.

“Watermelon.” she says again, her voice steady.

Ashi acknowledges that with a hum. Watermelon is hard to come across in Iron Country. A voice at the back of her head that tells her that it’s useless to piece together the strange case of Sachi’s circumstances. That girl is something else.

Ashi doesn’t know if it’s good or bad.

“Why burn?” the Inuzuka continues asking. Gentleness doesn’t come often to her, much less when she is on a mission and when she needs some clears answers, but she is willing to give in as long as Sachi doesn’t blow up.

Sachi is implying that Senju Tsunade and the Sandaime Hokage want to burn her, out of all things. She is strange, Ashi can at least be certain of that, but there’s hardly any motive to kill her outright. Moreover, Sachi was a child, and even though children have died at the hands of ninjas there had always been a motive to it.

(That’s what Ashi wants to believe.)

“Because they are heathens.” she hisses, every word sibilant with venom, “They took Sumi and burnt him, left him in ashes like a plagued rat!”

Ashi felt Sachi’s anger for the first time, a wave of killing intent that struck lightning fast. Had Ashi been the lesser kunoichi she would have slit Sachi’s throat from trying to play games, but looking at her expression she found no resolution to intimidate her. Ashi believe this because the killer intent wasn’t aimed at her, but at… everything? The world, perhaps?

Killer intent was born out of hatred, a sudden surge of chakra that became agitated by one’s desire to savage anyone in their path. When used right, it could desarm any enemy and give pause to the strongest of foes; that is, if it was actually trained as a skill instead of a reflex.

Sachi’s killer intent was nowhere near weaponized, being fizzy and thunderous like her personality shifts. Ashi was still surprised, since one had to hold quite the grudge to summon such violence from emotion alone.  _ Sensitive  _ was added to Sachi’s list.

“They killed him?”

“The burnt him!”

“They burnt him before or after he was dead?”

Sachi was seething by that point. Killer intent shot up from her tiny form as senbon. Ashi wasn’t affected that much by it, a far away acknowledgement at the back of her mind that put a stop to matching the challenge. 

“He died and they burnt his body!

Ashi was piecing together the why’s of Sachi’s behaviour, so upset about her cousin being cremated. Some clans preferred to be buried, whereas others followed the old ways of burning the body until only ashes remained. The Inuzuka had similar customs, mixing the ashes of both dog and human so they would be together in the Pure Lands. It was the highest of honors, to be sent off in such a way; when you were a ninja, seldom you got the chance to die close to home and your body retrieved. 

Sachi wasn’t so keen about it.

“Your cousin died, right? And they burned the body afterwards…” Sachi’s killed intent intensified, turning anger into fury “They…. did something wrong?”

“Yes!” she shouted, “How could they  _ burn  _ Sumi? Now his… his soul won’t rest! H-he didn’t deserve that!” 

Sachi wavered between anger and sadness, choosing the former to punctuate her next words “They. Are. Heathens. They turned his body into ash and now the wolves are resentful, it nearly killed  _ me _ !”   
  


Ashi was having real trouble following their conversation with Sachi jumping from one thing to another. She had a cousin, now dead; the Hokage and Tsunade cremated his body, which vexed Sachi terribly. Wolves were also involved, Ashi missing how or why.

“You… you have to let me go. I have to go back home before the wolves eat me or they burn me. I have to let Sumi rest, and the others—” Sachi chocked on her rant, swallowing the knot in her throat “I have to feed the wolves.”

“Wolves—?”

“The wolves have to eat the flesh of the dead,” Sachi explained between gritted teeth, “they are angry at me because, because—” she hiccuped.

“What do you mean ‘eat the flesh of the dead’?” wolves had been pushed to the north, the south dominated by the grand felines. Sachi  _ was  _ from the north, but wolves rarely frequented villages or cities, keeping the packs near the untouched forests and mountains. There had been attacks from wolves towards humans, mostly due to people going too far into their territory; they were wild, after all.

But going so far as to say that wolves ate human flesh was too much of a stretch. Sachi seemed completely sure that wolves had to eat dead people, and if she didn’t feed them they would come for her.

Ashi was starting to wonder if Sachi was just an imaginary construct that her mind had made up just to mess with her.

“The wolf! You saw it too, the one that talked! It attacked me because it wanted to eat Sumi’s flesh and now it wants to kill me because Sumi is burnt!” she wailed.

And then, it clicked.

She couldn’t help it, really. Ashi let out a chuckle, turning into laughs as she realized that Sachi was talking about Haiiro. People often confused ninken with wolves, and Ashi couldn’t blame them, really. Ashi had seen wolves before, and she had to admit that they looked alike; although Haiiro would argue that they are not.

“You got it all wrong, darlin’.” Ashi said, wiping a few tears of mirth. “Haiiro won’t eat you, don’t worry.”

Sachi didn’t seem convinced at all. “Wolves eat people!” 

“Haiiro isn’t a wolf, and they rarely do anyway.”

“That’s not true!” she shouted, aghast “They eat the dead and then— then you have to eat the the wolf! You have to so their soul can rest!”

“Woah there, eat a wolf? Haven’t heard it before.” Ashi teased. 

The Inuzuka alpha acted out of ignorance, the customs of the Kanbayashi ancient to be brushed of as the far fetched imaginations of a child. In retrospect, it might have been the wrong thing to do. Laughing at someone else’s grief and beliefs tended to get you in their bad graces, but Ashi was tired and just done with the whole ordeal, so she just forgot herself for a second.

It only took Sachi a second to paralyze her. 

Ashi’s body stopped working. Her lungs were fine after the initial shock of being overcome with a force that only let her collapse into the wood behind her. It felt similar as the numbing trick Sachi had done to her left arm, although this time her whole body was unresponsive except for her eyes and breathing.

The Inuzuka alpha saw how Sachi untied herself quickly, rubbing at her bloodied wrists as she finally got them all out. Ashi had put death knots in there, she was sure of it; a technique to avoid any movement from the target, tightening every time they did so.

Somehow, Sachi had managed to find a weakness on the knot and free herself; which was baffling on its own, and paralyse Ashi at the same time. The girl got to her feet, pinning her with her eyes.

One of the difference between Inuzuka ninken and wolves were their eyes. Wolves, as predators, had the yellowish tint to their irises that helped them hunt. Ashi, looking back at Sachi, in the crepuscular light saw the same thing.

A predator.

Sachi pressed the wounds to her wrists, making two drops of blood to fall to the forest floor. Ashi felt more than saw, a sudden creeping presence that made its way towards her. The effect was the same shock that made her muscles tense, not painfully, but enough to make her uncomfortable.

The buzz of chakra spiked, but instead of the all-over-the-place sensation it was more… focused, directed. 

Sachi went over to her, steps almost silent in a way that she had seen genin do when taught about stealth. She kneeled in front of her, still wary but calmer than she had ever seen her.

“I’ll show you the truth.” she muttered.

Ashi wasn’t amused, and swore that when she got out from whatever she had done to her she was going to beat Sachi’s ass to Iron Country so hard that no medic would be able to heal it. As it was, she couldn’t move; so when Sachi gingerly put her hands at either side of her head she couldn’t do nothing but stare.

And endure.

The intrusion of another in one’s mind was something she and Shikaku often compared as to ‘being mindfucked by a sloppy q-tip’. Sachi’s style was more akin to ‘being mindfucked by a cotton wall’. The dichotomy between the soft edges and the utter unyielding shield that was trying to get past her mental barriers was something that would have interested Inoichi, in the morbid kind of way, but not Ashi.

As any other ninja, she had been trained to put mental barriers to avoid someone trying to get answers without the conversation bit; someone just like Sachi. Inoichi described them as labyrinths to avoid any stranger to get to the important places by criss-crossing the way with trivial memories and thoughts.

Ashi, being close with the Yamanaka by proxy of being in the same ANBU squad, had extra buffers in case she got caught by the wrong crowd. They had served her well, getting captured once or twice in her career; so far, no one had managed to crack her barriers except the Yamanaka.

And yet, Sachi did so easily.

From there she could only watch.

The first thing Ashi saw, because she very well knew that it wasn’t reality and yet she was seeing it unfold in her mind, was snow.

Pure, blinding white snow. There was a wall made of thin pointy branches that reminded her of senbon; along the dunes of powdered snow there was a slight mist, painting a picture of white, black and grey.

Ashi, proficient in genjutsu tried dispelling it with every trick in the book; it didn’t work.

Laid on the snow was a person, naked as the day they were born. The angle of the image was set low on the ground so Ashi couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. 

It didn’t matter, as in the next second a piercing howl startled her. Ashi, and every Inuzuka, was familiar with barks and howls, almost like a second language to them. But that howl was not one of greeting or remotely friendly.

It was a warning.

Under the blanket of black needles appeared the wolves. They had a coat of white fur with only a few grey hairs; their eyes a mistifying yellow that glowed in the shadow of the bare trees. 

Ashi had seen many canines in her life, inevitable considering her clan and their partners, but never had she seen something so feral and wild.

A wolf stepped from the pack. It was big, and even when Ashi didn’t have anything to compare it with, she knew it had to be bigger than Haiiro. Prowling with their head low to the ground, they sniffed the snow.

They howled again.

This time, the howl was an invitation, setting the time to eat. Haiiro had a similar howl, calling up the pack to feast together.

Realization struck her as the wolf opened their jaws and a row of sharp teeth dove into the belly of the person. Ashi watched as the wolf tore apart flesh and meat and entrails with starving bites and growls of satisfaction.

It was  _ wrong _ .

The wolf didn’t leave anything behind, crushing the skull with a sickening crunch to get to the brain; breaking the femur to get to the marrow and licking it clean. The snow was tinted with blood, the white fur of the animal stained by the meal.

They howled one last time, going back to their pack that hadn’t moved an inch while their mate ate alone.

The image stops before another comes into view. The wolf is now dead on a table, people with white hair and golden eyes cheering as an old woman cuts the fur off the carcass and then the meat.

Ashi watches in horror as a piece of the wolf is roasted and served in a soup, little hands taking a spoonful and coming out empty afterwards. 

Another pause and another episode. This time its a hospital, a very familiar one that has none other than the princess and the Hokage in it. The former approaches with a wine colored urn, and a blink latter the very same is on the floor in a million pieces.

Afterwards, it’s a chase. Smashing a vial to get the janitor’s attention, slipping by the nurses and medics and just in front of Tsunade’s office; crawling into a dirty laundry carrier and taking clothes and shoes; leaving by the back door of the hospital.

Hiding under the crates of the merchants, rounding the Hokage Monument and giving one last glance at the Hokage Tower. Everything stops after Ashi sees herself, a baffled expression on her face as Haiiro snaps his teeth, right before they go down paralyzed.

“See?” Sachi demands, “Wolves eat people.”

If Ashi could speak she would have told Sachi that she was insane.

Thankfully, the cavalry arrived.

“You sure?”

Sachi’s head snapped to the entrance, where Haiiro was with three rabbits at his feet. After seeing whatever Sachi did to her, Ashi had a cold shiver down her spine. Sachi’s reaction consisted of taking the kunais laid at Ashi’s side and point it at him.

Haiiro ruffled his fur “Such a feral pup,” he sighed “you said you have a dead cousin?”

She tensed, “Sumi is dead, his flesh—”

“I asked if he’s dead.”

Sachi nodded.

“So you want to go home to pay your respects, but your Sumi can’t be eaten by the wolves because he’s burnt to a crisp.” Sachi’s hands trembled holding the kunai “Listen, pup, you are pretty far away from home and I can smell the fever on you. If you try to go by yourself you are gonna die in two days tops. Don’t gimme that face, you are a smart pup, yeah? You know this, but you won’t go back to the hime so she can heal you because you are afraid that they won’t let you go again.”

Sometimes Ashi wanted to kiss Haiiro on that snout of his, he was good like that. Ashi saw as Sachi’s will wavered, something that she hadn’t accomplished ever since she tried getting intel out of her. Haiiro might not be interested in interrogation, but he does have a soft spot for pups.

“What’s chasing you, pup, to be so afraid?” Sachi bit her lip, troubled. “Must be pretty bad if your cousin brought you to the hime, hmm? Now, pup, you are too young to be gettin’ into fights like that, and not alone. Why don’t you come back to us, so you don’t drop dead?”

“I can’t die here!”

“You seem pretty keen on doin’ it though, running around like a mad cat. How long have you been out of the hospital for? Three days?”

“... four.”

Four?!

“Thought so. You must be pretty tired, hungry. But you have this pretty big mission to avenge your family, feeding the wolves and so on, so you can’t sit around.” Ashi’s feeling started to come back, Haiiro’s tail fanning around him in a clear order to stand back. Training went both ways. “Pup, why do  _ you  _ have to do it?”

“I’m the last one, I have to go back home and…”

“But why now? You’re too young to go alone and you seem pretty lost to me, if you are the last one then they can wait.”

Sachi took a step back before saying “Their souls…”

“They are your family, right? They will understand if you take a few days so you don’t join them early because you didn’t eat or got sick. Your cousin brought you to the hime because you were hurt, so he must have thought that it was safe to leave you there.”

“They want to kill me!”

“Why, pup? Were they that bad?”

Sachi hesitated, gripping the kunai awkwardly “They don’t understand me—”

“Have you explained it to them?”

She didn’t answer.

“I see how it is, then. It’s no wonder we aren’t gettin’ nowhere here, when we don’t know anything ‘bout you and you don’t know anything ‘bout us. It’s all a misunderstanding pup, you don’t have to be so afraid.”

The girl pondered that for a few seconds, taken by surprise. Ashi could practically see her think, deciding if she should trust them or not. She took a step forward.

“You are a wolf, you are trying to trick me.” she said, baring her teeth “You have come for Sumi but his body—”

“Right, I’ve come for your cousin.” Haiiro retorted, keeping a straight face “So I can eat him and help him pass away, but he doesn’t have any meat on him.”

Ashi could move her fingers now; if Haiiro kept Sachi busy they might knock her out and drag her to the village without crazy talks and second hand cannibalism visions.

“How do you speak, wolf?” Sachi demanded, her hands clenching. If her blood was spilled then they would be in trouble “Is it the Lady of the Hunt?”

Haiiro huffed. “Pup, you are assuming things. I don’t know who that lady is, but you certainly do. Why don’t we talk, so can we clear everything?” he goaded, giving her space. 

The dog could also tell Sachi’s moods by her chakra, and Ashi had no doubt in her mind that he was doing his best to keep her calm. The girl, however, didn’t let go of her suspicion; Ashi needed only a few minutes more to be able to move.

“Come on, pup. I promise not to bite you if you don’t bite me.”

And, just like that, Sachi relaxed.

“You promise?”

“Yeah, sure. I have three good rabbits that I wanna eat, because, ya’know, I don’t eat any puppies. I can hear your tummy growling, so why don’t we sit so we can talk?”

“Okay.”

Huh?

Haiiro’s tail wagged. “You know how to skin rabbits, pup? I would do it but my thumbs don’t work that way.” Sachi gave a curt nod, going to take the rabbits. “Up you go, set the fire before the rain comes.” he told Ashi, nudging her with his nose and an air of smugness around him “You are hopeless, you know this, right? Was it that hard to speak to the pup without those games?”

The Inuzuka matriarch tested her body. It was still a little stiff, the chakra in her system strangely sluggish. “Fuck you, Haiiro. And you there.” Sachi looked up “Are you gonna try something shady?”

“I won’t if you don’t.”

_ Right _ .

Ashi sighed, too tired to argue with deranged children in the middle of the wilderness. Nevertheless, she will take the truce Haiiro and the girl had reached with surprising quickness.

Somehow, Ashi knew it would be a long night.

.

“Who taught you this?”

Sachi nibbled on her skewer, happy to ease her hunger. “Grandfather, and my cousin.”

She had skinned the rabbits and prepared the meat, just like they showed her in their first camping trip. The masked woman had let her do it, although she could tell she was keeping a close eye on her.

Also, taking the knife away after she finished.

“The same cousin that’s dead?”

“Yes.”

Hearing a wolf talk was… unique. Sachi didn’t know too much about the fauna in the Continent, but she had a slight suspicion that talking wolves weren’t part of the regular crowd. Besides, the wolf hadn’t tried to eat her yet, so Sachi was positive about ‘Haiiro’ being a singular case.

Or so she wanted to believe.

“... how did he die?”

“... I… don’t know. I wasn’t awake.” it was the truth. Sumi had done something unspeakable, tampering with another’s mind, and Sachi won’t ever forgive him for that. He died because he wanted to. “I don’t… wanna? talk about it.”

The woman flinched slightly. She had a mask over half her face to let her eat; with tan skin and short dark hair, her eyes brown or black since the bonfire cast shadows over her features. “Are you ninja?”

“Um—”

“Kinda obvious, pup.” the wolf chuckled, deep and raspy as the woman pinched his nose. “Have you seen one of us before?”

“... not really.”

Sometimes, back when Sumi was sent on more journeys he showed her bits and pieces. Akio, his father, had been a high priest of the temple of the Uzumaki, so he got to see some of the other branch of the clan that acted as the military force. 

But they didn’t have masks on them, or wolves as partners. 

“Good for you, pup. Ninja can be pieces of work, sometimes, if you know what I mean. Take the hime for example.”

“Hime?”

“Yeah, the princess, Senju Tsunade. You met her right?” she nodded “Real good at healing, but she kinda sucks at people things.” he huffed.

“Tsunade-hime is a prodigy, Haiiro, they don’t have time for commoners.” The woman added “She rules that hospital like a queen, and you can’t always be nice when you’re saving someone.”

Somehow, despite the ninja addressing Haiiro, Sachi felt as if she was the one being chidded. Tsunade had prodigious skills, that was undebatable, but Sachi agreed with Haiiro. For all her greatness, the Senju princess was not good with people. Not when she looked at her as if she was a demon, and certainly not when she was disgusted to even come near her.

“... so you’re Leaf ninja.” 

Both became still for a second before Haiiro barked a laugh. “Nice catch, pup, aren’t ya a smart one?” Sachi took another bite, blaming the fever for her hot cheeks. “I mean, ya broke out under the hime’s nose, so ya must be quite the cookie, hm?”

Sachi, who was still trying to follow the language of the Continent, didn’t quite catch the meaning. Haiiro’s partner spoke up next, asking “Why did you leave, darlin’? Tsunade-hime can be quite brash, but it’s not because of it, right?”

Again with the same question, Sachi was getting tired of it. “I wanna go home.”

“But you can’t.”

Sachi felt fire in her veins, Haiiro sneezing before she could get a word of complaint. “Don’t meant it like that, pup. Your cousin took ya there for a reason, and the world can be dangerous for everyone, even if you’re a smart one.”

She knew that too well. Intelligence had done them no favours when that creature slaughtered them, but if she wasn’t smart, then what was she? If she didn’t go home, had she one at all? 

If she didn’t try, did it mean she had given up?

“... they’re different.” she said in a whisper.

“Well,” the woman said gently “I’m different, Haiiro’s different, you’re different… everyone’s different, darlin’, you won’t find two people alike and going against the world because it isn’t like you… it’s gonna be hella lonely.”

Oh.

The woman didn’t use a condescending tone, nor did she shame her. Sachi was aware that she came from an unfamiliar place with a culture that the rest of the world didn’t share nor understand. Going against a current, Sachi was stubbornly holding on the ways that she had been taught and she believed in.

But that’s not how the world works. 

The idea of normalcy, what was right and what was wrong, dictated who belonged in a group or those who were left aside. The Kanbayashi had been thousands , safe in the Heart where everyone followed the same ideas and the same beliefs, where tradition was glorified and change was frowned upon.

The Kanbayashi had excluded the whole world, and now that they were dead, Sachi was suddenly the strange one.

(Loneliness would kill her faster than a kunai.)

And yet, she longed for being understood.

The woman gave her another rabbit skewer “Eat up, darlin’, food makes you feel better.”

Sachi searched for pity in her voice, or expectedly masked indifference. When she didn’t found anything, she accepted the food. “... thank you.”

“How’s your head, darlin’? You gave us quite the scare.”

Right, she had been dying.

“Better.”

Sachi might have underestimated Fire Country. The last trek of her journey she had been overcome with such a high fever that she had been rendered unconscious for at least three hours. How she hadn’t died then, or how she had pulled it through, she could only thank the gods.

And the woman in front of her.

“Thank you.” she added.

“No prob, darlin’, but I have to ask.” Sachi braced herself for the inquiries about her scars, or the chakra in her blood, or the seals on her skin— “are you okay?”

She hadn’t expected that.

Okay? The emotions hit her like a shovel.  _ Okay _ ? How could she be okay? Her family was dead, Sumi was dead, she was in buttfuck nowhere and so far away from home. Did she even have a home still? And what was that fucking demon that killed everyone? And why, in the name of all that was holy and good, why did they burn Sumi?

She could lie to the woman, dodge the question and feign that it was okay. She wasn’t asking out of necessity, but of actual concern. A stranger, who had healed her without missing a beat and didn’t press her for answers.

“N-no.” she croaked.

That was the truth, clear and loud. She was not fucking okay, because she was alone and sick and didn’t know what to do. She wanted to go home, go to her room and close her eyes, pretending that everything was okay and that it was just a feverish hallucination.

No. She was not okay.

“Don’t worry pup, it’ll get better.”

“H-how?” how could it get better after everything that happened? 

“It’ll come, eventually. I won’t tell you that it’s gonna be easy, but it won’t be that bad forever, right?” the woman said soothingly, poking the fire. “Or that’s what everyone says, the truth is that it’s gonna suck for a long, long while. You either get used to it or change what’s bothering you, but it  _ can  _ get better.”

They remained silent for a long time after that, Sachi taking the bit of wisdom while she finished her meal. The woman spoke from experience, that much she could tell, but she was also giving her advice.

Sachi desperately needed to believe that it would change, that it could change. Her current situation was less than perfect, and she was so damn lost as to what to do and what to expect. 

Yet, when Sachi wanted to rage against her circumstances, cry and wail because it wasn’t fucking fair, and that she didn’t deserve any of the pain; she didn’t. She had been running for four days without allowing herself to stop, miserably focused on getting away as to not deal with her problems.

She could have been dead, either by her own stupidity, or because the woman and the wolf in front of her.

Luck she didn’t believe in, but she wasn’t as stupid as to not profit from it. 

The woman was right; life sucked at the moment, and it would for a long, long time until she found a solution or moved on. It didn’t make it better, but it also didn’t make it worse.

In the end, Sachi choose to held on the words of the woman that had saved her, without knowing that she would do so much more than sharing advice.

“... thank you.”

“Huh, what for?”

But Sachi didn’t respond; looking up in the darkness where True North didn’t shine, but the bonfire in front of her did.

The woman had given her a gift, although unwillingly.

Kindness.

And Sachi took it greedly.

.

The next morning was more serious.

“What are we gonna do, darlin’?”

Sachi, in a change of heart, had stopped being difficult. Haiiro, the traitor, had taken quite the liking to her despite Sachi keeping her distance. 

The girl shrunk a little bit, hanging on the blanket that she dutifully carried with her. “... they are gonna be mad at me.”

Mad was an understatement. If what Sachi had told them was true, then the Hokage and Tsunade would be worse than slightly angry. Details she hadn’t given them, telling them that she was supposed to be staying in Leaf until it was safe for her to step out into the world, and that she might or might not be in the hit list of a highly dangerous individual.

Which checked out why was she so scared of them. Ashi would be too if someone suddenly dropped from the trees with a knife, with a wolf that in her culture —religion? — meant death. She did apologize for knocking them out, which was nice, had she not explained how she did it.

Fucking blood seals.

Ashi and Haiiro decided to ignore that tid bit of intel until they reached the safety of their village, spoke to the Hokage and had at least one strong drink. Sachi didn’t seem bothered by it, having gone into several tangents on sealing theory that they had tuned out until her fever started acting up.

Another problem. Ashi had assumed that Sachi had gotten a very bad flu, and whereas it had been true, the fever was a more permanent issue. They had saved her life by fighting the infection manually, since Sachi’s body was weakened by whatever happened to her that she refused to talk about, but her body was constantly feverish due to the chakra in her blood. Now they were contemplating how to go back without Sachi dying in the process.

Sachi wasn’t thrilled at all.Neither were they.

“Come on pup, it’s gonna be fine. I’ll talk to the Hokage and the hime, ‘kay?” 

“You promise?” damn, those were really good puppy eyes. Haiiro completely fell for them.

“Sure thing, pup.”

Ashi had a bad feeling about it. 

(She was right.)

“Can you chakra walk?”

“What’s that?”

At least she tried. Casting a hopeful glance towards Haiiro, she sighed. “We’re gonna do this. Get on my back, Sachi.”

“...why?” and for emphasis, she took a step back.

“It’s faster this way. I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable or whatever, but we need to rush a bit, ‘kay?” Sachi frowned and Ashi really didn’t have time for this. “I promise I won’t drop you, darlin’.”

Just like a charm, Sachi surrendered.

For some blessed reason, Sachi’s magic words were ‘I promise’, which Ashi was certainly not complaining about when they worked brilliantly. Sachi was hesitant but climbed onto her back and held onto her with her tiny fists.

Haiiro snickered behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Transition chapter, woo!  
> Sachi is awake and she doesn't like it. At all.  
> Also, introducing my Inuzuka OC'S, Ashi and her partner Haiiro. Ashi is Tsume's older sister and current Clan Head of the Inuzuka. I had to make them up because I couldn't put Tsume in charge so early, and I always got the vibe that Tsume had a cool older sister. 
> 
> I think I will be updating this fic by story arcs, because I'm fond of changing things as I continue writting. Because I don't have a beta I have to edit it myself, so details may change as I update, nothing major I hope.


	4. Impromptu adoption

At nightfall, the Hokage received an unusual guest.

“Haiiro-sama,” Hiruzen greeted. Inuzuka hierarchy prompted him to address the canine alpha of the clan just as he would address the Clan Head. Haiiro, following the same rules of etiquette, greeted him with a slight bow of his head and a slightly strained ‘Hokage-sama’.

Unusual it was to see the Inuzuka ninken without their partners, putting aside puppies, since they would rather die than leave their mate behind. Which is why the Hokage had the slight suspicion that either Ashi was dead and Haiiro had been appointed to carry the news —improbable, since Haiiro wouldn’t let that happen to Ashi— or something very wrong had happened.

He went with the later at the absence of blood and gore on his coat. Ashi and Haiiro’s mission was a high risk one, months on the job that required the best tracking team they had. He had been expecting them for three days already; Inuzuka might be brash and raucous sometimes, but tardy they were not. Most of them.

“How was your mission?” the Sandaime asked, letting the old dog unravel first. Making assumptions was not something Hiruzen indulged in, proving fatal on the battlefield and administratively troublesome.

Haiiro, instead of answering, pointed his nose to the ceiling. The Hokage squinted his eyes at the dog, confirming that he truly wanted to get rid of the ANBU guard residing just above their heads. He nodded, and with a flicker of his chakra, that his guards answered instantly, they were gone.

“I hope it’s for a good reason.” he said, taking out his pipe.

There were privacy seals around the office, but not including the false ceiling were guards stayed to ensure that the Hokage was safe. For someone to request such a private audience it meant that something _truly_ wrong had happened.

The Hokage only let it happen because Haiiro was an outstanding ninken and he wouldn’t do nothing to endanger his clan; like insubordination, for example.

“May I ask a question, Hokage-sama?” the hound tested the waters, purposely keeping in the middle of the room and as relaxed as possible to not convey any threat. Talking he was, and an alpha too, but he was still a dog and recognized Hiruzen as above his position.

Honestly, the Hokage was tired of questions and answers, ever since a certain white haired girl had left the hospital a week ago. How was still a mystery, and not the good one.

“Go ahead,” he amended after he lighted up his pipe. So many years as Hokage had given Hiruzen a sixth sense when to take out the tobacco, something his wife named ‘headache smoke’.

“Have you met a girl named Sachi, sir?”

Lying to a ninken was impossible with that keen nose of theirs; so precise it was able to pick up scents months old. But Hiruzen was having trouble deciding how Haiiro knew Sachi’s name without having met her, being on a mission before and after she came and went.

“Briefly,” he said, igniting the dry leaves. His sixth sense was telling him that he will be having a headache that not even Tsunade might heal. “I presume you have met her as well, Haiiro-sama?”

The dog bowed again, “We crossed paths.”

“Where?”

“Fire Country, halfway to Rice Country.”

As if on cue, a throb pulsated inside his skull. “Where is Sachi?”

Haiiro’s tail shuffled behind him “Ashi is bringing her here.” the dog said, not meeting his eyes directly.

“Is she alive?”

“Yes.”

The Hokage took a long drag of his pipe, letting the smoke burn his lungs and numbing his headache. It was going to be a long night.

“May I request you to fetch Tsunade-chan for me?” Haiiro gave a curt nod and disappeared quickly.

The Hokage couldn’t use his assistants to bring his student in the office, not when they were still keeping everything a secret still. They realized that Sachi had escaped sometime in the night, but they had their hands behind their back in terms of pursuing her.

They couldn’t send a tracking team, not even ANBU —sworn to secrecy— because it would inevitably bring the question of _why_ there was a strange child running across the country that was needed back in the village. Tsunade’s summons were not fit for tracking and Hiruzen didn’t trust his own not to beat every inch out of Sachi or scare every person they came across. They tended to be… loud.

Tsunade couldn’t be spared because of her duties in the hospital, and Biwako would be suspicious if her star pupil suddenly disappeared. Hiruzen, as Hokage, was out of the question. Had they not been busy with the unexpected chain of bad missions he would have sent a clone to comb the forest.

He didn’t because he didn’t want Sachi back.

It posed the decision to either keep Sachi or kill her. She was a child, yes, but also Archive. Escaping from the hospital had shown ingenuity —or a ridiculous amount of luck— that would only bring more problems in the long run. If Sachi was smart enough she would stay away and hide; in a more realistic tone, she would die without her identity being discovered and stop giving the Hokage a thundering migraine.

Speaking of thunder.

“Where’s that little shit?” Tsunade said in greeting. She hadn’t taken kindly at being played by a child.

“Tsunade-chan, please don’t flare your chakra.” Tsunade’s temper was well known but the Hokage’s guard would be waiting for any sign to intervene. They needed to be quiet; again.

“Sensei,” she acknowledged with a vein in her neck ready to pop. “Haiiro-sama, please enlighten me?”

Haiiro’s ears twitched, sensitive to Tsunade’s anger “Ashi is almost here,” he said, looking towards the window. “the pup’s with her.”

“Pup?!”

Hiruzen took another drag as the Clan Head herself appeared in his office with a shunshin.

And, sure enough, Sachi was on her back. She had leaves and branches sticking out of her hair, and mud on her cheeks but was otherwise unharmed. Ashi helped her down, Sachi standing near her leg as some sort of barrier between her and Tsunade.

Tsunade crackled her knuckles “My, my Sachi-chan. I’ve been waiting for you.”

Sachi whimpered and went to hide behind Ashi. The Hokage watched as Wolf stood still and even put a hand forward to stop Tsunade from getting to Sachi.

Huh.

Tsunade noticed too “Wolf, stand down.”

Haiiro went to his partner, staying close to the girl with his head low on the ground. Hiruzen didn’t need to be an Inuzuka to know that Haiiro was defending Sachi from Tsunade. “Wolf—”

“Sachi,” the Hokage called, interrupting the revolt that Tsunade’s tone promised. “you came back.” the girl nodded “Why?”

“The wolf promised that you wouldn’t kill me.” she said, glancing at Haiiro.

“Kill?”

Sachi met his eyes, not falling for his blunder “Because I know too much.” which summarized their intentions of getting rid of her, “The wolf said you wouldn’t, so I came back.”

One would think Sachi’s explanation as innocent, but given what they knew about the Kanbayashi and their promise-debt system, it put them into a delicate situation.

“Why did you came back, Sachi? I figured you weren’t comfortable with being here, so that’s why you left. Even if we were not to harm you under a promise, we aren’t obligated to take you back; not when you left so promptly.”

“You burnt Sumi!”

“Your cousin was dead.” Tsunade said, serious “We did what we had to.”

Sachi didn’t ease, growing upset as Haiiro took a step forward “The pup has a different funerary rites, so it’s confused about our customs.” he said, trying to bring the room to a simmer, “She believed that… um, you were dishonoring her cousin, so she took it upon herself to honor him by going back to her home and doing it right.”

Tsunade had some strong opinions about how she was going to dishonor his corpse if he kept interrupting her. Sachi had sneaked under her nose despite Tsunade trying to bring her as much comfort as possible. Strict she was, but she had mellowed for Sachi’s sake. That stopped when Sachi decided to break out from the hospital and, somehow, making it out of the village without anyone reporting suspicious activity.

Hiruzen was really curious about how Haiiro knew this, since the Inuzuka didn’t strike him as Kanbayashi affiliated “Haiiro-sama, are you familiar with those customs?”

“The pup has explained it to us,” he paused, “sort off”

“She… explained it? As in, she told you?”

“And shown.” Ashi added.

The room turned to Sachi. Hiruzen took exhaled rich smoke. “What more have you told them, Sachi?”

“... things.”

Tsunade bristled “That’s it, I’m going to—”

Sachi backed up as Haiiro and Ashi both stepped in, Haiiro baring his teeth just for a fraction. “Don’t scare the pup, Tsunade-hime.”

“A dog doesn’t tell me what to do.” she snarled back.

“Okay, let’s _not_ go there…”

Hiruzen watched the scene unfold. Sachi had shut down after her cousin’s death, refusing to answer to anyone or anything. Tsunade had suggested to give her time, everyone grieving differently; of course, doing so gave Sachi enough leeway to disappear for a week.

And yet, Sachi had opened up to the Inuzuka and her hound. She had come back because of them, and even though Haiiro might have made a promise that he might or might not keep, Sachi trusted them enough to hide behind them and—

“Sachi, don’t!”

The girl stopped with her hands in the air, a small cut on one of her fingers. She glanced towards Ashi, who was shacking her head “Don’t try that, darlin’.” miraculously, Sachi lowered her hands and did not try to make any seals.

Tsunade, who had been at the end of Sachi’s antics, stood baffled “Your fever is acting up, pup, don’t do anything.”

Sachi _listened_.

Hiruzen had been in Sachi’s presence for only a few minutes at a time, and even with little exposure he could tell that the girl was as stubborn as a mule and sly as a snake. Yet, when both of the Inuzuka alpha spoke to her she actually heard them and heeded their advice. The last of the Kanbayashi had been more than a month in Tsunade and Hiruzen’s presence, and it took only a few days for Sachi to side with the Inuzuka.

What a day.

“Fever?” Tsunade asked, going into medic mode “What fever?”

“The pup’s sick.”

“Fucking fantastic.” Tsunade grumbled, “I heal you for an entire month and then you go and catch a cold? I’m not healing that.”

Sachi sneezed.

“Incredible.” Tsunade hissed, annoyed, “Don’t give me that drowned kitten look, Sachi-chan, I’m not going to heal you until you stop being difficult. No seals and no tricks, you get me?”

“Are you going to kill me?”

“I will if you keep asking that.”

“Haiiro promised that you won’t.”

“I don’t give a shit about what—”

Haiiro coughed, catching the attention of both women “Pup, don’t piss off the medics. She’s trying to help you.”

Sachi frowned deeply, “But...”

“I don’t have time for this,” Tsunade said and in a blink took Sachi from the barricade that made the Inuzuka partners “Stop struggling, dammit!”

“No! Stop!” Sachi screeched “You promised, you promised—!”

And, just as quick, Sachi went limp. “Fucking hell,” Tsunade cursed, “She’s burning up again. Where did you find her?”

Ashi took hold of Haiiro’s scruff, stopping him from lunging at Tsunade. Hiruzen remained silent as Tsunade made an earth clone and put Sachi in its arms, saying “Put her in the room near my office and strap her, I’ll come soon” and off it went.

The ninken and his partner remained still, although Hiruzen could tell that Haiiro was somewhat concerned; his tail low on the ground and swaying slowly. Ashi must have noticed, petting his big grey head “What’s going to happen to the pup?”

“She will be taken care of.” the Hokage said, testing them. Haiiro’s fur bristled but did nothing else.

Good.

“Now, I believe we are due a mission debrief, aren’t we?”

.

“ _Absolutely not!_ ”

That was the first shout of many more that Tsume had heard. It was hard to sneak by an Inuzuka, and not when they were familiar with your scent. However, it was considered a small curtesy not to wake the rest of the house at an unholy time of the morning when coming back from a mission.

Needless to say, Tsume was pissed.

“Hear me out—”

“No, Haiiro, I’m not. Do— do you even hear yourself? No, no! I’m not, I swear to the damned Sage—”

“Ashi! You are letting her die!”

“So _what?!_ ” was the shrilling response. Tsume didn’t even need to put her ear to the wall to hear the conversation between her sister and her partner “Many people die, we have let more people die than we have killed!”

 _Oh_.

Kuromaru blinked the last bits of sleep away, hearing the growls and curses beyond the wall; he mouths to her ‘what the fuck?’. Tsume shakes her head, this was going to be long.

“ —excuse! I promised to her that I would keep her safe!”

“ _You_ did; _I_ didn’t and I sure as hell won’t go up to the Hokage and give him that bullshit. Were you even listening? She’s dangerous! For fuck’s sake, she eats—”

“She’s just a kid!”

“So?! Do I look like a charity fair or something? It sucks to be her but I can’t— no, don’t give me those eyes, they won’t work. Haiiro!”

“ _You_ can do something, you can at least talk to—”

“And say what? That I wanna babysit until she gets her head checked? How— I don’t even understand what the fuck it’s going on, and I don’t want any part in that! The clan comes first, we are busy, I can’t keep her!”

“ _Clan?_ ” he barked, matching Ashi’s volume “You speak to me about the clan?! How many missions have you taken, Ashi? How many?!”

A pause.

“... trackers are always needed.”

“ _Bullshit_.” he bit back, a menacing growl shaking the entire house “You lie to yourself! Look at what you have become!”

“And what does it have to do with everything?!”

“You are killing yourself.”

Haiiro said it so calmly that had not only stunned Ashi, but Tsume and Kuromaru too. The peace was short lived, as Ashi let out a ferocious howl. Kuromaru nodded his head towards the door but Tsume was not going to go out there and risk getting stabbed. Again.

Fights were usual in the Inuzuka, a healthier coping mechanism than keeping one’s emotions bottled up until they exploded. Of course, the Inuzuka were also the very first to throw themselves at the neck and tear it apart with their teeth. Haiiro and Ashi, setting an example for the whole clan, often sparred or bickered together. It was easy going and just ol’ rough housing.

This fight? Oh, this fight promised _blood_.

Tsume had heard enough of her older sister’s fights and arguments to know that this one was serious. She had been out for a few months, something big must have happened for them to be so heated up and actually bring it home.

But Tsume agreed with Haiiro.

“You aren’t a young bitch anymore, Ashi, you have to settle down or die in the next mission.”

“Don’t lecture me, Haiiro! I will do whatever I decide it’s best! And if that means that I have to bite that fucking cyanide tooth so be it! And what ‘ _settle down_ ’ are you talking about? Are you seriously telling me to take her in and play house. _All. Day. Long?!_ ” she mocked, outraged “And what do you fucking care, anyway? In the five seconds you met she nearly killed—”

What?

Tsume had just gotten up from her sleep but the turn in the conversation didn’t made any sense. Also, _who_ were they talking about?

“That’s suicide with extra steps! I refuse to let you continue and kill yourself because you just gave up! I didn’t raise you so you could break—”

“Don’t bring that shit up, Haiiro, I’m warning you…”

“ — ever since Isamu died you have been digging yourself a whole!”

“That’s _it._ ”

Metal meeting wood and battlecries echoed through the hallway. By the sound of it, Ashi had went ahead and pulled out a kunai. It was to be expected, bringing up Ashi’s husband like that. Although, it was true that Ashi was going downhill ever since she had to cremate Isamu.

Tsume had tried cheering her up, but what could she do when the most she saw her sister was when she came back for clean clothes and more kunai?

Kuromaru put his paws over his head. He was Haiiro’s younger brother, two generations apart, and very done with their home-life. Haiiro was a sensible dog, someone to look up for the younger pups, but he had a way of pushing buttons that got him more than a few scars and attempted murders. Most of them from Ashi herself.

More clashes ensued, this time plates. They must have reached the kitchen, yelling and barking at each other and throwing everything that was in their path. Tsume would need to go to the carpenter for another dining table, and plastic plates to avoid going bankrupt from their meaningless fights.

“ — her! I will not do it! I fucking can’t— get off me, you damned— _ow_ , did you just…? Haiiro, I swear to God…!”

“You can help her! She will be a good pup, I know—”

“Stop calling her pup! She’s not one of us! That girl’s lost either way, and _I. Don’t. Have. Time!_ ”

“You could teach her! You, out of anyone, can make her one of us!”

“I don’t want to! And why would I?! Just because you imprinted on her doesn’t mean that _I_ have! Fuck, Haiiro, think about it. I can’t take care of her, she’s—”

“She’s what?!”

Two consecutive bangs thundered. Tsume swore that the plaster was coming off the walls in chunks.

“Get off!”

“Tell me, Ashi,” Haiiro bellowed, snarling “you whine ‘bout retiring, but you have yet to lay down that fuckin’ mask. I’m giving you a chance and you won’t take it!”

“Because I don’t fucking want it!” Ashi shouted back, just as feral, “I can’t just keep her! She doesn’t belong to us!”

“That’s the fucking problem, you dense two legged _rat._ ” good lord, Haiiro was all out today “She’s got nobody and that’s what’s gonna get her killed. Who’s gonna take that pup, the _hime_? She would rather snap her neck and be done with it, and the Hokage’s wife would castrate him if he ever dared to—”

What had the Hokage and the Senju princess had to do with that argument? Tsume was trying to figure out what was the mess, but so far she only got that Haiiro wanted a pup and Ashi didn’t.

Could it be?

“I want to sleep, Tsume.” Kuromaru huffed, “make ‘em stop”

“Shh, shut it!” she hissed back, catching more snipets from Ashi and Haiiro’s fight.

“ —mother!”

“Life don’t go our way, we are shinobi! Isamu died before he—” Tsume didn’t understand the last part as Kuromaru bit her ankle; she kicked him. “ —try!”

Silence.

Tsume strained her ears, only hearing ragged breathing and the brush of fur against the wooden floor. For a moment, Tsume believed that they had fought it out and they were good again, letting the tension go so their house can still stand in the morning.

“Get out.”

“Ashi—”

“ _Get. Out._ ”

Even Tsume got her hair standing on end at the harsh tone. It was and order that promised something far worse than death if it wasn’t followed; if Ashi used it on Haiiro—

“Just because _you_ want to die doesn’t mean _I_ do.”

And with that ending note, Haiiro left. Tsume heard his nails clicking against the wood and the shuffle to get the door open. Meanwhile, Ashi didn’t move or talk for several minutes, breathing in and out.

“What a fucking mess.”

Tsume agreed with her.

.

After cleaning all the blood on the floors and walls, Ashi proceeded to go into her office and brood for the next two days.

Despite being tired, she couldn’t sleep; due to her exhaustion not coming from lack of sleep —or at least not most of it— but from a certain little eight year old with a death sentence.

The Hokage had explained what, or who Sachi really was. Kanbayashi wasn’t the name of just a family, but an entire clan that had gotten wiped out as of last month; leaving Sachi as the only one left.

But that wasn’t all.

Sachi was also vessel as what the Hokage called ‘priceless information’, which Tsunade translated as ‘a fucking pain in the ass’. Ashi was used to not being given the full picture, but in Sachi’s case she really would have lived better without the details.

(Ashi would have never met Sachi, nor preoccupied herself with her problems. They would have died years apart and in different corners of the world.)

Priceless information could go two ways; either to the village or to the grave. Sachi was only a child but understood pretty well what was going to happen if she didn’t talk.

But she was still a child, and like one, she was stubborn. 

All except for Ashi and Haiiro.

Said woman sighed, opening up the scrolls that Tsume had so dutifully staked up for her return. It was true that her and Haiiro had been taking more missions lately, and even though the money was always welcomed, she knew that doing so was over the top.

As Clan Head, Ashi had to see for the safety and sustenance of her clan. Pretty words for what entailed too much paperwork and more council meetings that she would ever want in a lifetime. Mindlessly boring was putting it mildly, and every Clan Head would agree; and yet, there was another motive.

Ashi refused to believe that the death of her late husband was the cause of her string of bad days. They had seventeen beautiful and amazing years together, and Ashi would always keep the memories of him and everything they had been with equal parts fondness and aching. Isamu would have never wanted her to be, Sage forbid, depressed for his sake; so that’s why Inuzuka Ashi was _not_ depressed.

So what if she was taking more missions than usual? She was still a kunoichi, and was not old enough to be considered an Elder. Tracking specialties were sought for, not because there was a shortage of them — basically all the Inuzuka were trackers — but the skill needed to come back safely. Ashi has gained every scar in her body and she was proud of them, it was proof of her survival and how, despite the odds, she had always come back.

But she was more tired than usual, and she was just a tiny bit slower than she used to be.

It had taken only half a second for Isamu to be gutted.

“Fuckin’ hell.”

That it was. There was a still bleeding gash were Isamu used to be, three years later. It hurt her like an open wound, salt rubbing in at random intervals that made her just want to rip her brain to shreds. Missions was the very best thing, and Haiiro could complain all he wanted, she was _not_ suicidal.

She just wanted a break.

“Wait… Tsume!” she shouted, since Haiiro was not there to howl for her “Tsume!”

Kuromaru came “What’s up?”

“Call Tsume for me, I need to check the entries.” the dog murmured something but did as he was told. Being the alpha had its perks.

“You called?” was the bitter greeting her younger sister gave to her “Oh no, not paperwork.”

“Yes, paperwork. What’s this ‘bar fight’?”

“Dunno, isn’t it in the report?”

“It says ‘ _shit happened_ ’”

Tsume shrugged her shoulders “There you have it.”

She leveled her a look. She did not need one of Tsume’s moods today “Tsume, you can’t just write this in the reports! How can I do my job, otherwise?”

Tsume shrugged her shoulders again “You are the Clan Head.”

Wrong answer. Ashi let out a flare of chakra, making Tsume flinch “Come again?”

“I don’t know, okay? I only remember Obu and Chairo getting into fight and breaking a few things at a bar. They paid the owner, I think, but those uppity Uchiha police wanted to file a report. Nothing more, if you want something else go ask Obu.

“I’m asking _you_.”

“And I’m saying that I don’t know anything more. I blacked out and Kuromaru dragged me back, so I don’t remember what happened or what panties they were wearing two months ago.”

Damn.

“Are you okay?”

Because it didn’t matter how angry or tired she was, Tsume came first. “Do I look invalid to you?” her little sister huffed, Kuromaru nuzzling her hand “It was just a bump, got Hisumi-baa-sama to heal it, ‘s done.”

The knowledge that her sister had been hurt didn’t sit well with Ashi. At all. She had promised their parents that she will look after her, and yet—

What was she doing?

“Nee-san, you wanna talk about it?”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

Tsume quirked an eyebrow, unimpressed “You haven’t even said hello to us, and there’s ‘nothing to talk about’? Nee-san, I’m fine with you doing missions still, but don’t get lost, ‘kay?”

Where was Haiiro when you needed him? He would have known what to say to her.

“Thanks, Tsume.” she settled with. She was tired to her bones, and the problems kept pilling up. Even her little sister had noticed.

“Can I go?”

“Ah, yes, sure.” and, as she gave her back to her she added “... I’m back,”

“Welcome back.” Tsume murmured and then shut the door behind.

Ashi let out a sigh. She didn’t want to fight or argue anymore. Missions were supposed to be getaways, not more nightmare fuel. First Isamu, then Haiiro, now Tsume and—

Sachi.

There was no way that she could care for her. Sachi was too different and it would raise questions as to why she’s there… No, Ashi can’t take Sachi, she won’t.

But—

She was alone.

Ashi and Tsume lost their parents at a young age, but Ashi had been old enough to take over the Clan and care for her sister. Sachi had lost all her family in a day, and her only cousin a few weeks later. And yet, her first instinct was to try and go back home, to try and make things right.

Ashi had done the same thing, but Sachi had no way of accomplishing it. That was the harsh truth. Sachi was not going back home because there was not a home to go back to. What was an empty home, but a shell of what it could be? If Sachi ever got there she would drown in grief and be chocked by the ghosts of those who aren’t there anymore; haunting her and the places they had dwelled in life.

There was no escaping from them; Ashi should know.

She began working on the reports. She had months worth of reviews and reports and budgets to oversee and get done—

“I’m going to take a walk.”

Which is exactly what she did.

Ashi couldn’t stand staying in her office any longer, not when it was so empty and missing. Isamu had been her right hand, helping her with the clan’s business and keeping her sane. Now that he was dead, she had to rely on her sister and the two Elders they had. Taking that many missions had only made her workload worse, but Ashi couldn’t bring herself to look at it.

A little walk will do her good.

She only got two steps out of the door when someone behind her chuckled. “Fidgety much, Ashi?”

Haiiro, the old but experienced coot, dodged the senbon with a sidestep “Slow.”

“Don’t piss me off, Haiiro.”

He bared his teeth once, licking his snout next “Simmer down; Hokage’s summons.”

 _Great_.

Haiiro came in step with her and not a step ahead; they were equals, alphas in their respective hierarchies even if they were mad at one another.

Her partner had not came home for the two days after their argument, probably setting for the woods or taking a spot in the kennels. Ashi was not worried about him, since Haiiro could win any over jounin easily on his own without even trying.

Isamu had been too and just half a second later—

“Shiga had a pup, you know?”

“Haiiro, I said—”

“You should visit him, as Alpha you need to give your blessings, remember?”

“Right.” she groaned; that tradition “Wait, Shiga? Hisumi-baa-sama’s grandchild? When did he even get himself a bitch?”

“Fell in love last year and knocked her up while we were in Grass. Name’s Aimi, they wanna marry in spring.”

“I… didn’t know that.” she muttered. Going on long-term missions always came with the drawback of disconnecting with the clan, so any kind of announcement came in late. “Got a name yet?”

“Waiting for you, Shiga wanted to ask if they can make Aimi one of us and make the pup an Inuzuka.”

Shiga was a distant relative, from the other side of the family. Good ninja, if not a bit of a hothead — an Inuzuka through and through— and she did recall something of a rumor going on about one of their clansmen having a crush on a civvie.

“I’ll talk to them.” introducing new people outside of the clan was a mess of paperwork that will give her a few visits to Administration.

Haiiro flicked his tail, an obvious telltale sign that he wanted to say something more.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Yeah sure.

“Haiiro—”

The aforementioned dog completely ignored her and jumped over a roof, saying “Let’s see what the old man wants to talk about.”

.

On the other side of the village, Sachi was seething.

That woman had bound her hands with so much tape that they weighted an extra pound. ‘ _For safety_ ’ she excused, as she trimmed her nails to nothingness and rolled her up in an hospital gown so many times that she felt like an onion. Also, it was _itchy_.

“I don’t know what you were expecting, Sachi-chan,” the not-Tsunade said at the foot of her bed “but why don’t you stop fighting and take your medicine?”

Sachi was pretty sure that the ‘medicine’ was an euphemism for sedatives and coagulants. She didn’t know what not-Tsunade was expecting, but certainly not her actually complying.

The wolf lied to her.

“You are in no position to be a brat.” she reminded her, taking a few steps towards the side of the bed. It wasn’t as if she could really move, not with her limbs strapped to the bars of the bed but she refused to open her mouth.

If she wanted to drug her she would have to forcibly open her mouth and shove it down her throat. Unfortunately for her, the other option was to let the medication go through IV that made the itch come from her blood. Sachi tersed her lips tighter.

“Sachi-chan, you have a cold that can kill you. Seriously, why did you think it was a good idea to go on a week long marathon when you aren’t nearly as healed?” not-Tsunade took hold of her cheeks, digging her fingers into them “You are undoing all my work.”

Sachi opened her mouth to argue, which gave Tsunade enough time to put the pills inside her mouth; she swallowed them dry, coughing.

“Was it that hard?”

The last of the Kanbayashi had a few opinions on how she could demonstrate her discontent, alas, her hands were tied. Two days had passed, most of which Sachi had spent in a haze of medication and fever as she tried not to die.

Who would have thought that living isolated all her life could make her susceptible to illnesses that the majority of the population was already immune to? Sachi did, and yet she had believed that going on a run for several days, underdressed and, more importantly, fucked up from the inside, was not going to happen to her.

Cue Tsunade losing her mind.

She had believed that it was just body heat, that she was a little bit under the weather. Under the weather she had been, which is why she is almost foaming at the mouth trying not to drown in mucus and antibiotics.

“Who gets colds in summer? You came from the coldest place on the planet and go down with the flu? In _summer_?” she ranted on.

Such was Sachi’s luck.

Looking on the bright side, she was still alive; although she suspected it was just Tsunade’s revenge to see her squirm and suffer. She could have healed her sickness in a few hours, but chose not to because chakra enhanced healing on viral or bacterial illnesses was too demanding.

“But I have to give it to you, Sachi-chan, you did manage to get pretty far,” and, just to rub it in, she added “you came back, though.”

Yes, she did came back.

And she regretted it.

Logically, Sachi wouldn’t have gotten much further. The sealwork had made her weak and she had been nursing a cold ever since she stepped out from the hospital. Tsunade, already familiar with her messed up chakra network, had managed to not let her boil from the inside. All because her hipotalamus thought it would be a good idea to kill the bug by rising her body temperature; which was already high to begin with.

Despite not liking Tsunade’s guts one bit — a feeling reciprocated by the medic herself— she had to admit that she was a good at her job.

But Sachi refused to say it outloud.

“... what are we going to do with you?”

Sachi wondered that too.

Not-Tsunade continued to stand watch, doing mechanical tasks such as checking her vitals and making sure she doesn’t die in her sleep. Sachi had memorized her routine, but had yet to come up with a plan to get out again.

Not that it would be easy.

Before Tsunade could change the fluids bag the door opened; Tsunade stepping in. On cue, not-Tsunade popped off from existence, the real one taking a moment to gather herself and say “Not talking today either, huh?”

It was a jutsu; a clone technique. That’s how Tsunade always kept someone with Sachi at all times and used to gather information without being near her. She came by just to check on her every few hours, having learned from her previous experience that letting her unsupervised came with troublesome consequences.

“Stop frowning so much, you are going to get wrinkles.” Even though it was a bait to make her talk, she added “Don’t say it or I’m putting potassium.”

Angry she was, but not enough to endure that hellish potion drip in her bloodstream.

“Now, now, be nice. You have visitors.”

Sachi stood up at once, bouncing back from the bindings and getting a headache for her efforts.

She heard them before she saw them. They were arguing, the gruff voice of the wolf rasping at curses and insults while a more feminine voice took over and upped the filthy words.

“ —rat! Oh, hi pup.”

Sachi had never thought that she would be happy to see a wolf, but Haiiro’s presence was welcomed as long as he didn’t eat her. A moment later, a woman came in.

She didn’t recognize her.

The woman had short dark hair, with tanned skin and pretty bulky. She had three red triangles on her face, two on her cheeks and a smaller one on her forehead. Dressed with a black leather jacket and loose pants, and a pouch strapped to her right leg. She waved at her.

“Um, hi, you remember me?”

Sachi was pretty sure she hadn’t seen that woman in her life; first because she was not a Kanbayashi and second because the only people she knew outside of her clan were Tsunade, the funny hat man and the woman with the wolf.

“Asami?” she tried.

The room stared at her.

Haiiro chuckled.

“It’s Ashi, actually.”

Sachi knew it she was lying about her name.

“Your…. face?” Sachi’s voice was hoarse but suspicious. The woman she had met had had neutral features, with dull brown hair and dark eyes instead of black and grey respectively. She was sure that she had longer hair too, but if she didn’t cut it then something was amiss.

Ashi rubbed the back of her head, glancing at Tsunade who just shrugged her shoulders “Genjutsu, it distorts perception so— you see what I want you to see, like this.” she made two quick hand signs and the woman Sachi had known as Asami appeared before fading out just as fast.

Interesting.

“Now you talk,” Tsunade muttered, amused “I’ll leave to it then. Remember, Sachi-chan, no more tricks or you know what happens. Have fun.”

And, just like that, Tsunade left.

Tsunade had always kept a clone behind to monitorize her, but now…

The binds were still there.

“Heard you have a cold,” the wolf said, nearing her bed with slow steps “they feeding you well?”

Sachi grimaced. “It tastes… weird.” Ashi might have known what she was talking about because she shuffled uncomfortably behind the wolf. It was surprising that they managed to mess up porridge of all things, but then again… “but it’s food.”

She won’t complain when they are keeping her alive.

“How… are you feeling?” Sachi looked at herself, trying to search what was making Ashi so awkward. There were the binds and the tubes, the CVL and the bandages; nothing that should bother her. She had seen that woman disembowel rabbits like it was nothing, and she was carrying knives around…

“Fine?” the fire in her veins had died down a little bit so she could think straight again. Her body was sore, after running for so many days and stopping abruptly, but as long as she didn’t move a lot it didn’t hurt. The worst were the scars on her body, too tight and sensitive; or so she told herself to not look at them. “You?”

“F-fine. Good—”

“Oh, for fucks sake. Ignore Ashi, pup, she has a bad case of moroness. We are good, pup, thank you for asking.” after he turned to snap his teeth at Ashi he asked “Actually, my paws are kinda tired, can I share the bed with you? I won’t eat you.”

“Share… a bed?”

“Yeah, yours looks kinda comfy, and I am kinda old. Pretty please?”

A wolf wanted to share a bed with her. If Sumi had been alive he would have had a heart attack. Welcoming death so eagerly—

“Do you promise to not eat me?

“Sure thing.” the wolf jumped once and, incredibly, it didn’t shake the bed too much so Sachi just flinched slightly. Haiiro was massive, but he found himself a spot at her feet with gentle movements. “Ahh, much better”

Ashi remained on her feet, shaking her head with an expression of pain and suffering.

“Haiiro—”

“Can I be frank with you, pup?” he ignored Ashi and flicked his tail around her ankles “The Hokage sent us so we can interrogate you.”

“Haiiro!”

“But it’s not fair to you now, is it? So why don’t we talk like normal people, eh pup?”

“What if I don’t want to answer?”

“Then you don’t.”

Sachi’s suspicion increased “Why are you telling me this?”

“Can’t have an honest conversation if we aren’t honest.”

“Sachi, don’t listen to him, he’s—”

She turned to the woman, “Is it true? The… Hokage sent you to interrogate me?”

Ashi sobered up quickly after that “It’s complicated.”

“Yes or no?”

Haiiro stifled his laugh between his paws, saying something about ‘feral pups’ while Ashi took Sachi’s question like a personal challenge. Sachi was no sensor type, but she didn’t need to be to sense that she might have overstepped a boundary.

“The Hokage did send us, yes.” she answered after a few deep breaths.

“Why?”

“You tell me. You talk to us, the Hokage thinks we might get some answers out of you.”

Sachi took a moment to think about it. She did talk to them, although she wasn’t sure why. What could she gain from sharing information about her if not condemning herself further?

But… what could they do with any of the things she told them?

“Can I ask things too?”

“That’s a conversation, pup, it’s supposed to go both ways.”

Maybe it was the medicine, or just the fact that Sachi wanted to talk. It certainly wasn’t the pull at her soul and the throb in her heart, the crippling feeling that went beyond the smoldering blood but the freezing realizations that she was alone in the world. Yes, she just wanted to talk.

“Okay,” she said, nodding twice “I’ll talk”

Sachi was yet to see a wolf grin, but Haiiro did so as he snickered towards Ashi “Good, what you wanna know, pup? Must have questions of your own, hmm?”

“What are your true names?”

“Haiiro and Ashi,” the wolf answered “Alphas of the Inuzuka clan.”

Inuzuka? Sachi hadn’t heard about that clan before. She was familiar with those in Iron and Uzushio, but that was as far as her knowledge went.

“Alpha? What’s that?”

“The Alpha is... a title for the Clan Head of the Inuzuka. Like a leader, all the clansmen answer to us and we make sure they are looked after.” Ashi explained easily.

“And paperwork.”

“Yes, and a lot of paperwork.”

Sachi vividly remembers Mother’s paperwork back when she lived with her; mountains of paper and scrolls that she had to complete every day when the travelers came back. Or Chika-sama, the only time she had let her to sort through the transcripts while she checked on all of the Kanbayashi, in and out of the Heart.

“Oh, so you are the matriarch of your clan!”

“Not matriarch, alpha.” Haiiro corrected “Our clan doesn’t care for women or men when it cames to the alpha, we aren’t matriarchal or patriarchal.”

That confused Sachi. “How do you choose your… alpha, then?”

“We fight for the title.” Ashi answered, taking a chair and bringing it closer to Sachi “We organize a contest and the Elders or the last Alpha oversee our fighting skills, as well as the other clansmen. Then, by voting we decide who is the best and then there’s a year of trial to see if they are fit.”

Some described the Inuzuka customs as primitive or bestial, since it did involve violence and a fair share of blood; and it was completely true. By the end of Ashi’s trial she had three fractured ribs, her nose broken and a finger that had to be reattached. Her opponents had been sent to the hospital with much worse injuries.

At this, Sachi only answered “Oh, that’s… new.”

Haiiro and Ashi laughed, hearing much worse from closer acquaintances “How do they do it in your clan?”

“The Vessel of the Archive is the matriarch of the Kanbayashi, and seeks for the safety, well-being and continuation of the clan.” Sachi said, translating the best she could Chika-sama’s lectures “The woman that becomes the Archive is the… alpha, I suppose? But there were Houses for each of the six branches of the family. Ekashiba, Asir Rera, Abenanka, Resunotek, Isonash and… Chitina,” she enumerated, pausing on the last one “The Houses were chosen by the Archive.”

Sachi tried not to think about how all of that system was currently useless. With no other survivor besides herself, every House had died that day. Isonash, Sumi’s family, had almost made it.

Almost.

“Six? As in, side families?” she nodded “Damn, that’s a lot of people.”

“Thousands.”

All dead.

There was a second of heavy silence before Haiiro spoke up.

“No fighting, not even a little roughin’ up?”

“No fighting. To become Archive takes years. They choose trainees from the families willing to give up their children and train them. All Houses vote for the next Archive, although the final decision is for the Archive herself.”

At least, that was the theory; reality was another matter completely.

“The Archive is the Clan Head, then. This… Archive, what it is, exactly?”

What a loaded question.

“You don’t have to answer but—”

“The stories talk about the Archive of the Kanbayashi, and they say it’s a well of infinite wisdom that will answer every question.” which, in Sachi’s honest opinion, was a load of bullshit “The Archive is the vessel of all the lives of the Kanbayashi, proof that we lived and died. Every bit of their existence has been recorded and categorized in the Archive, and it has a lot of information about… everything, really, but that isn’t the final goal.”

No, it wasn’t. The Archive held all the lives of every Kanbayashi that had ever been, proof that they had lived at all against the pass of time. Knowledge it had, yes, but it was much more than just a library full of books.

Ashi and Haiiro weren’t expecting what Sachi said next.

“The goal of the Archive is to beat death.” and it was in the simple manner that Sachi told them so, calm and collected that put a shiver down their spines “When you die you stop existing, right? You don’t do nothing and everything you did will be lost forever. You have… like, a hundred years before the world forgets you lived at all. Everything you did, everything you said, everything…. you _are_ will be lost, forever.”

With a small smile she added “As long as the Archive lives, everyone does.”

Haiiro shifted his weight on the bed, looking at Sachi intensely. “Pup, this Archive of yours, you have it?”

“...yes.” and she didn’t like it at all.

Everytime she closed her eyes, the door was there. Sachi was too small to bear thousands of lives in her mind, the mere thought of having them haunting her each second. She can’t pass the Archive and she can’t forget; a loop that is more painful than the scars she has been left with.

Sumi’s life was in the Archive too; taken by greedy, greedy claws that ripped it out from his still fresh mind.

“So you can access the Archive?”

Everytime Sachi closed her eyes, the door was there.

“Yes,” and a beat later “but I won’t.”

That was a final answer; curt and short.

“Wait. If you are the Archive, that means that you are the Clan Head,” Ashi prompted before the room got too heavy “you said the process of the Archive took years, but…”

Sachi as Clan Head would mean a riot in the first five minutes. Sachi couldn’t picture a reality where she would be made the leader of the Kanbayashi and expect her clan to follow her lead. The Kanbayashi were dead, but they might have died anyway had Sachi been seriously appointed Archive.

Pity that nobody got the joke.

“Normally, it takes a decade or so before they are eligible. I only did three years of training but I didn’t want the Archive! Michiko was supposed to be the next, and I would have been her assistant but—”

Sachi choked, flashes of that evil grin haunting her memories. The blood on the snow, the howls of the wolves, the screams, the fire—

“ —okay, Sachi?”

There was a beeping noise in the room. A monitor, a heart monitor; the same one connected to her heart. She didn’t speak until the beeping noise faded and slowed down, Sachi not even daring to close her eyes in fear of seeing the same pictures over and over again.

She needed to bind them tighter.

“I was not supposed to become Archive. Like, never ever.” Chika-sama had sworn to never pass the Archive onto Sachi, not a promise but an oath. And yet— “I was the only one left. So,” she waved at herself “here I am.”

Both of her visitors stared, cynicism coming from a little girl that had yet to have all her teeth fall out was something to behold. Sachi recovered quickly, blowing a strand of hair out of her face and stating “You are ninja.”

“...yes” Ashi had believed that it was obvious, since Sachi was in a ninja village and had been visited by one of the Sannin and the God of Shinobi himself. Then again, Sachi spoke as if it was common knowledge that she carried the past lives of her relatives inside her brain.

Sachi pursed her lips, tilting her head like a straight up puppy while she was eyeing them up “What do you do as a ninja?”

Now it was Ashi’s turn to get fronted by a loaded question.

“What the pissy nobles don’t have courage to do, basically.” was Haiiro’s response “We kill, we steal, we lie, we eavesdrop… you name it.”

“We also help people! Bodyguarding, rescues, sabotage…”

“You kill people?” she asked instead of questioning why sabotage counted as helping people.

Ashi was quite skittish, Sachi decided; that, or very nervous around children. Haiiro didn’t have that problem. “Yeah, done a whole lot worse too. It’s not something to brag about, but it does pay the bills or so it goes.”

“You kill people for money?

“And for free if they piss us off too much.”

Sachi must have made a strange grimace because Haiiro laughed harder “Does it bother you, pup?”

The little girl took a few minutes to answer. “I mean… I have seen people kill people before, and then it’s that thing—” she stopped, taking a deep breath “It’s weird because you don’t take the memories of those you kill so you are… finishing them, forever.”

To be forgotten was a Kanbayashi’s worse fear; because once you were forgotten, you never lived. What was the point to live if not to be preserved for eternity? To let a Kanbayashi die without their memories being passed onto the Archive was the worst disgrace one could do to another. It was a sentence, much worse than death itself; it was obliteration, definite and final.

Sachi knew that people outside of the Kanbayashi didn’t have an Archive; something intimately tied to their bloodline limit. It was clear that she would have problems understanding death without being remembered; and it even worse, to purposely kill another to let history erase their existence.

“You aren’t bothered by the fact that we kill people but that we don’t remember them?” she nodded “You don’t have to worry then, we do remember.”

Sachi looked at the wolf. He was an animal, but he wore the same emotions as any human would. In that moment, Haiiro looked almost ashamed and, at the same time, unapologetic. Ashi had a similar expression, although hers had a thin veil of exhaustion.

He said that they remembered them, but Sachi was sure that it wasn’t in the same way the Kanbayashi remembered their dead.

“Um… what is your favourite food?” was her attempt at changing the subject

“I won’t say no to a steak.” which wasn’t surprising coming from a wolf.

“I have to go with apple pie.” instead, Ashi’s response was.

“You like apple pie?”

“Yes. What, I don’t look like I like a good apple pie once in a while?”

Ashi had very sharp teeth and she wore a deep purple lipstick that made her look menacing. One would think that she liked to eat the flesh of her enemies —carrying so many knives with her— but she preferred sweet things like any other kid would.

“I know how to make apple pie.”

“You do now?”

“What, I don’t look like I can bake an apple pie?”

Ashi quirked a brow but smiled “You seem kinda young to me…”

“I know how! I had cooking duty for many, many, many hours. Apple pie is easy to do, I can also cook steaks, and do everything with potatoes—”

Ashi, who had barely intervened since the beginning of their mutual and consensual conversation, was intrigued “They let kids have cooking duty in your clan?”

“Not really? Cooking duty was one of Chika-sama’s punishments, but I was the only one to ever get sent there.”

“... punishment?”

Ashi was confused, her definition of punishment much more physical than… delicious.

“Yes! Chika-sama was so mean to me!” considering that her last one involved passing the Archive against her will, Sachi was certain of the former matriarch’s sentiments towards her “Cooking duty, washing duty, shoveling snow… everything!”

Haiiro laughed “You must be something else if they punished you that much! You remind me of Ashi when she was a pup, y’know? My, what times were those…”

Before Ashi could protest that she was not that bad, Sachi asked “Really? What did she do?”

“Oh pup, you are gonna love this—”

.

“Thank you for your report, Ashi-sama.”

She bowed respectfully to the Hokage and took her leave. They had spent hours talking, Haiiro airing the last four decades of dirty laundry she had on her soul for Sachi to laugh at until she fell asleep. Sachi did have some interesting stories of past shenanigans, but Ashi lost the inside jokes.

Worst of all, she had to tell the Hokage everything. Haiiro had not spared any details from what they told on their end and by the end of the briefing Ashi felt a powerful need to dig a hole and bury herself in it.

The Hokage, at least, had the human decency not to make any embarrassing comments and just nodded politely.

Which was even worse.

“That was refreshing.” Haiiro’s tail was wagging happily at her side.

Traitor.

“Refreshing for you.”

“Come on, Ashi, the pup’s nice to be around.”

Sachi had behaved herself, true, but there was very little she could do tied to the bed and high as a kite. She had startled giggling after whatever medicine she was under kicked in, slowly dozing off as she was telling them a story about how she had accidentally set the office of her alpha on fire without using anything other than two sheets of paper and pure spite.

“She’s a normal kid.”

Ashi had to admit that their first encounter was rocky to say the least, and after she knew what she truly had… her opinion of the Kanbayashi and Sachi wasn’t the best. Sachi had told them about how the Kanbayashi had travelers, whose sole purpose was to go around the world and collect information about everything they came across. As a kunoichi specialized in reconnaissance, Ashi understood why would someone preserve the Archive and use it for their own means.

Who knew, besides Sachi, what information the Archive had? How many secrets was she keeping? What did she not tell?

But then Sachi told them about how her cousin always brought her souvenirs from his travels and how the cooks always gave her cookies to share with her friends. Sachi spoke about a world where there was only ice and snow, so unforgivable and harsh that adventuring beyond the walls was seen as reckless.

And yet, that had been her home.

Ashi could see the love and fodness the little girl had for her home, describing how the sun would rise after six months of darkness or how, on the darkest of nights, the sky shone with ethereal lights. How her family would gather together and dance and sing together until everyone was either too tired or too drunk to continue; how busy the central plaza was during peak hours and how chaotic were the festivities.

There were things that Ashi couldn’t understand and couldn’t imagine, but she listened as Sachi bleed her heart out and opened the doors to a home that was no longer there.

“ —do?”

“What?”

Haiiro bit her calf, saying “Pay attention. I asked if we are going to visit Shiga and his pup or not.”

Oh right. Ashi was Clan Head, she had responsibilities.

“Yes, yes, we’ll see him tomorrow. Now you are going to come with me and help me sort through the paperwork.”

“I’m grounded.”

“Not anymore. Come, I have some noise complaints for you.”

Haiiro cursed.

Yes. Ashi was the alpha of the Inuzuka, she didn’t have time to waste on orphaned children, not matter how tragic their backstory was.

.

“Thank you, Aimi-san.”

“You’re welcome, Ashi-sama.”

Hashimoto Aimi was a lovely bitch. With jet black hair and beautiful tanned skin, she was more than just an eye candy. From what she has gathered so far, Aimi had a quick wit that she didn’t spare when it came to her fiancé and plenty of snark to boot.

Ashi wondered what did she see in Shiga.

Inuzuka Shiga was a perfect example of an Inuzuka. Not too tall with broad shoulders and with a canine companion by the name of Niiro; he had short spiky brown hair and a scar that crossed the bridge of his nose. Ashi remembers healing that very same injury because he had thought very wise to run through the forest with his eyes closed as ninja training.

Miracles did happen; this one in the form of a baby boy that had two months in their world and had yet to have a name.

An honor that they had reserved just for Ashi.

Ashi was not stupid. Welcoming someone not clan related was a serious business. The Inuzuka didn’t care for blood purity as other clans did, since they believed that what made a clansmen was their beliefs and not their kinship. Shiga was not dumb either, requesting Ashi to name his child so she would acknowledge his existence and tilt the balance in Aimi’s favor and their marriage proposal.

He shouldn’t have bothered, really. Ashi had yet to turn someone away from one of their kin marrying someone not clan affiliated; but she understood his apprehension. The Inuzuka took their children seriously, the pack dynamic forcing everyone to take the child in and raise them together. Since the little boy had been born without Ashi even knowing that Shiga was sniffing at Aimi’s skirts, it was a delicate situation.

Recently, Ashi pondered, her life has been revolving around children.

Haiiro loved it.

He was across the room, peeking through the bars of the crib while Niiro, Shiga’s partner named after the fiery red of her coat, crooned and gloated. The old dog’s tail was fanning behind him, an obvious tell that he was excited.

And jealous.

“I can call the dogs away, if it’s a nuisance.”

“It’s fine, Ashi-sama; we have already gotten used to Niiro, and Haiiro-sama is very gentle.”

It was useless to deter the woman from not wanting to go into the clan. Ashi, not only as Alpha but as a human being had the duty to make sure that the pair was happy and there were no underlying motive for their union. Aimi seemed happy with her fiancé, and Ashi could tell that she was telling the truth when she said that she was fine with the dogs’ presence.

The thing with Inuzukas is that they came in pairs. Their ninken were their partners and not their pets, just as they were their partners and not their owners. Ashi has had enough instances —specially in the dating field— were outsiders just… didn’t get it.

Aimi was not one of them.

Ashi heard Shiga before she saw him. Aimi had good ears — she was a new mother, after all— but not near the senses of an Inuzuka. Shiga knew this, but rasped at the sliding door softly before entering the little living room of Aimi’s apartment; he was carrying a tray of tea to accompany the little snacks that his fiancée had put on the table.

Shiga was twenty years younger than Ashi and he had already found a good mate and with a pup already here.

Kids these days grew up so fast.

Shiga bowed his head lightly, avoiding her eyes as it was customary for greeting the Alpha. Too much eye contact could mean a challenge, which Shiga didn’t need right now since the pup was stirring in his crib. Aimi excused herself and went to appease him with soft hums and kind touches.

Truly, a lovely bitch.

“What have you decided to do, Ashi-sama?”

Niiro came to her partner, taking a seat across the table and at his side. Haiiro stayed with Aimi and sniffing at the kid’s toes.

“We will call up the pack and introduce Aimi-san and your pup.” she said easily. It was hardly something to debate, the formality making her skin prickle; it was necessary nonetheless, especially since Aimi was a civilian and just had a clan member’s child. If paperwork would protect them, then Ashi will be too glad to comply “Have you thought about taking one of the slots from our lands?”

Shiga looked towards his fiancée, his brown eyes softening at her slight nod “We were thinking about talking with Hisumi-baa-sama for the slot adjacent to her.”

It was a good spot, nearing the eastern lands and sandwiched between Elder Hisumi and her side of the family. Shiga and Hisumi-baa-sama had always been close, and Ashi could only imagine that she would be excited to have her third great-grandson near.

“I’ll see to the paperwork then,” and a beat later, she asked “And your career?”

That was a heavy topic, judging by the sudden stiffness of the room. Coddling wouldn’t do, and Shiga was one of their best trackers; young or not, father or not, he was a shinobi first. Ashi would not force one of their own to continue putting their life at risk, but she needed to know if he would retire from active duty or not.

Of course, that would mean that Shiga’s social standing inside the pack would drop, but no price was expensive enough for the chance to see one’s children grow.

Or so she has heard.

“... I will stay as a ninja.” he said after a moment, gathering his thoughts. Aimi was cradling their son, but her chakra was not all that happy. “But I will help Aimi until our son is at least six years old.”

“No long-term missions then. I’ll pass the notice to the Hokage, and I’ll try for you to not get deployed too soon.” but she wasn’t promising anything. Trackers were in high demand, mostly Inuzuka since a single pair could do more than a team of Hyuuga and Yamanaka.

Shiga understood that and bowed his head, Niiro doing the same. They understood, but Aimi perhaps not so much. Ashi has been a ninja for too long to know what was a civilian’s point of view, but from the little sparks of her chakra and her emotions bleeding through her scent… she was afraid.

That, she could understand.

“Aimi-san, what are your thoughts?”

By her the slight jump she hadn’t expected to be asked her opinion.

“I agree with what you have discussed but… pardon my intrusion, but…” she hesitated, shifting the babe in her arms “the Inuzuka marks…”

Oh.

“Don’t worry, Aimi-san. We don’t put the red fangs until they are about four years old, and the process is mostly painless. As for newcomers, they are optional.”

That eased some of her worries, sighing in relief. The Inuzuka red fangs were tattooed on their young when they were about to get their ninken. It was tradition, but Ashi could see why Aimi would be apprehensive to put a needle into the little kid she had brought into the world not even three months ago; or suddenly be branded because her husband was part of the clan.

Babies were fussy little things, not that Ashi would know.

“Ashi, the name.”

Right.

“What about Unari?”

Niiro, who was a normally quiet bitch, gasped. Her brown eyes were glowing with excitement. Ashi dismissed Shiga’s cheer as she surveyed Aimi. The woman looked down at the babe, smoothing away the flyaway dark hair and mused. “Unari… Inuzuka Unari… it sounds about right.”

Ashi smiled at the picture they painted. Shiga and Aimi were in love with a child in between; that was happiness, that was love.

Sometimes, Ashi longed for it.

Isamu had been her mate, and once she had believed that she would have a similar future as the couple in front of her did. Children they had not discussed before he… but it had always been implied. Ashi did wonder, if she had been just half a second faster, if the enemy just half a second slower— would she have had a pup, just like them? Maybe two? How would they have grown up? What people would they have become?

It was useless to think about it; it wasn’t going to happen. Isamu was three years dead and Ashi was fine as a widow. The time of having children had passed.

Haiiro turned to her, his knowing grey eyes squinting ever so slightly.

“We’ll take our leave.” she said, getting up and Haiiro coming to her side instantly.

“Oh, but you have just arrived…!”

“It’s better to start the process as soon as possible, we want you settled before the summer ends; better for the pup.” Haiiro intervened.

“I see...”

Shiga got up, Niiro following at his heels “Thank you, Ashi-sama.”

Ashi felt a pang of guilt. This should have happened months ago, before Unari was born. It felt like a failure to her clan, because while she was away doing missions, Shiga and Aimi had to wait for her to name their child and include them into their pack.

More disappointments.

“I’ll send a notice with the clan meeting.” and after she stopped to look at little Unari, they left.

Now she understood what Haiiro had barked to her about. She was getting reckless, lost as Tsume called it. The grief was getting to her, even when so much time had passed.

Not enough, never enough.

“You know…” Haiiro began once they were in the open streets, “Niiro told me that Shiga had been considering ANBU.”

That surprised her. Shiga was young, not even in his thirties. People only got into ANBU when they had little regard for life or in need of a justification for their death. Shiga, with his boisterous laugh and easy smiles would crumble under the pressure of taking up a mask.

“Why I’m hearing it now?” because god fucking dammit, it was her job to care for every clanmate! She should have talked with Shiga, find out why he wanted to get into the darkest of institutions; money? Glory? Fame? Death?

Few ANBU got to the end of their training. Ashi won’t lose any Inuzuka if she could do something about it.

“That was before he met his bitch; don’t think he is going to pick up a mask soon. Aimi’s got him whipped.”

“That she has, but why haven’t you told me? Haiiro, we’ve talked about this.”

“You were pretty busy in Admin stacking up missions, someone had to listen to our own and do something ‘bout it.”

Ashi groaned “I get it, I get it! Too much time out, I learnt my lesson you old coot. Now stop biting already and tell me things! You are my partner, we are together in this.”

Haiiro leveled her a look “Now you wanna hear me?”

“You have been scolding me for weeks! Stop it already, I get what you are saying. I’ll stay in the village, for fucks sake—”

“That’s not true.”

Ashi stops. It’s late morning, but the streets leading to the ninja district towards the Inuzuka and Nara compounds are rarely crossed at this hour. Ashi stops in the middle of the street and pins Haiiro with a glare.

“What’s not true?”

“You aren’t gonna stay in the village.” Haiiro says calmly, circling her feet “I give you three months tops before you haunt the HQ again.”

“That’s not true.” she hisses, but it’s a lie. She has been in the village for a month, and she can feel the creeping feeling of restlessness scab around her senses. Three months was a stretch.

Haiiro, who is too smart for a dog and has a no-bullshit policy, huffs a laugh “Of course—”

Both of them stiffen when they feel another presence. An ANBU messenger slithers out of the shadows and stays there “The Hokage summons you, Ashi-sama, Haiiro-sama”

They recover well; you can’t overreact at every shift, not even in the village “Thank you, Bat-san.”

Bat takes a bow and leaves.

Haiiro follows the chakra trail with his snout. He knows who they are but doesn’t say, it’s not polite to go on snitching about others identities.

Ashi lets out a sigh.

More children.

.

They reached an odd impasse.

Sachi refused to talk to anyone that wasn’t Ashi or Haiiro, at least, in a way that mattered. Tsunade or Hiruzen were met with cold glares or she simply didn’t woke up; the times she did talk to them, she was to mock them. It was useless, since the Hokage had gotten enough information to reach a decision.

Sachi needed to die.

Archive or not, Sachi had a serious problem with authority. Despite being in a very delicate situation, one she fully understood, insisted on behaving like a spoiled child. Stubbornness was an understatement, and the Hokage had raised two children to have had something to compare her to.

It wasn’t that she behaved badly. She took Tsunade’s tender care without complaint or scorn, but, as Tsunade had put it, she was creepy. The Hokage preferred to say that she was uncanny.

(Her eyes were the problem; bright even in darkness, reflecting pupils that mirrored their very souls back at them. Uncanny didn’t cover it.)

They had trapped her in that room, put shackles and chains, traps around the windows and the doors and even the roof; and yet, the very real possibility of another escape was hanging in the air. Hiruzen was confident in his skill to keep a ‘guest’, but it was a challenge for her.

(She had laughed at his seals.)

Every trap or trick had been spit back at them with mirthful eyes. Hiruzen had given her a few puzzles that the Nara used to evaluate their clansmen in terms of logical thinking; the results were troubling.

Ashi had reported Sachi having two sets of seals on her brain. It was a custom of the Kanbayashi, to put seals on their temporal lobes to allow them to control their memories and process the information consciously. Sachi was not bothered by it, expressing that she fully believed to be a blessing. In her words:

_“Who would want to forget?”_

Now, Hiruzen didn’t know if Sachi’s intelligence was due to her own right or product of her seals. The fact still stood, however, and it was that Sachi loved to get on everyone’s nerves.

Hiruzen was not fooled, but he was still figuring out why did she chose to behave in such a way. She had literally nothing worth for her to be kept alive, her life hanging from Hiruzen’s curiosity and intrigue about the Archive; and yet, she told him:

_“Senju Tobirama had strange coloring, didn’t he?”_

It was a bait. Sachi had concluded that using Tobirama, his former sensei and late Hokage and granduncle to Tsunade, to chip at their confidence. It was true that Tobirama had stood out besides his brother, with white hair and pale skin.

But he had _red_ eyes.

Hiruzen knew, logically, that Tobirama had been albino. A genetic mishap, he used to tell him, but it did remind him of Sachi.

_(Same eyes, different colors.)_

Tsunade had frozen in her place, not able to stop her from adding:

“ _A genius, pragmatic to a fault, and a scholar before a ninja_.” she told him “ _You know this, you were his student, after all…”_ he had been, and Hiruzen knew that he won’t ever match his brilliance. Not when his teacher’s mind comprehended reality on such a level that no detail was ever lost, no mistake was ever made, and no plan ever gone astray. _“Ever wondered how he came to use seals before the Uzumaki came to Leaf?_ ”

Countless seals had been penned under Tobirama’s name, most of them locked away deemed too dangerous to use for anyone but their creator. Hiruzen had never understood them, the subtle nuances of fuuinjutsu lost to him, wich wounded his pride more than he could ever admit. It was strange… remembering that Tobirama used seals well before he met his sister-in-law, or crossed paths with the people of Uzushio, separated by war and distrust.

What if he didn’t learn from an Uzumaki?

Hiruzen stopped himself. For an eight year old to use mental warfare was something that he would praise in the Academy; but Sachi had an edge that was meant to jab and twist, just for the sake of pain.

Because, what would Sachi gain from outing Tobirama, beloved Hokage, teacher and granduncle as a Kanbayashi? Sympathy surely not, since he was long dead, but...

 _“When was the last time you saw him?”_ she had asked him. He didn’t answer, but her eyes were attentive.

Hiruzen knew what she was playing at, and it was truly admirable. Tobirama’s body had never been found, a loss to everyone to bury an empty grave, and she knew this. It was purposeful, everything she said to them; planting doubts, raising questions, fracturing confidence.

Sachi’s mind would have been useful to them, had she been more compliant.

Information she already had, and she was quick to pick up clues and act on them. Hiruzen hadn’t seen Tsunade so flustered ever since Nawaki died, and not in a good way. Tsunade had always been sensitive about people, an ability she didn’t often use despite her gambling tendencies.

Tsunade had said that Sachi was dangerous.

Hiruzen believed her.

The mere notion that a child, a crippled, orphaned child could be a threat to a Kage, the God of Shinobi and the Slug Sannin was ridiculous.

_(Sachi’s eyes shone with malice. Her silence was barbed wire, her voice filled with venom. Bound, strapped and trapped; she smiled with a mouth full of teeth.)_

“I hope you understand.”

“... I do, Hokage-sama.”

Hiruzen watched attentively. Ashi and Haiiro had came to his summons, the dog’s tail waging with clear excitement. He told them that it was the last time he would need their services; he was grateful and he would reimburse them for their time.

Haiiro’s tail dropped instantly, and Ashi had taken a breath that she released slowly. They didn’t fight his decision, despite an obvious want from the dog’s part. Ashi was harder to read, but one didn’t become Hokage not knowing who his people were.

She was disappointed; resigned. Another loss, one unexpected.

Isamu’s death had been a blow to the village, although one that was quickly forgotten as any other of their failures. Wolf and Eagle had been a team for decades, with fame that was whispered instead of shouted into the crowd. The Hokage knew them well, and he had trusted them to complete the mission; and they did.

Right before Eagle was gutted at their doorstep.

Ashi had held on the first year; a strong woman in every sense of the word. But grief could strike at any time, and it was true that Ashi had been running downhill for her demise. A pity, but not something uncommon.

And yet, she had taken to Sachi eagerly. She didn’t show it, too good a kunoichi for that, but the stiffness of her shoulders had eased and Haiiro talked more, happy to gruff and howl with laughter. He had heard the rumours, about a certain Clan Head that seemed more… settled.

A month and a half had passed since they brought Sachi back, and she had yet to skim the ANBU HQ.

The newly found joy died quietly and instantly.

“Anything more you need, Hokage-sama?” and if Ashi spoke in a clipped tone, Hiruzen chose to ignore it.

“What’s your opinion of Sachi?” he asked instead.

Tobirama had told Hiruzen that his curiosity was as much as a tool as it was a gravedigger; he wondered, which one will be this time?

The pair was confused at his question, Ashi blinking slowly before gathering her thoughts. Haiiro’s body language consisted in a slight shuffle of his paws.

Sachi was more open with them, Hiruzen knew. He could her her laugh and excited rants when they were together; just like any other child would be. Bright and sunny, devoid of any second intentions and just… honest, simple.

Hiruzen couldn’t help but think it was a trick. Favouring one person over the other generated conflict on the other side; an inverted version of ‘good cop bad cop’ meant to gain support at least one of them. Why Sachi chose Ashi and Haiiro over him or Tsunade, with more power and means, was only for him to wonder about.

“Lonely,” Ashi said, almost unsure of her answer “she’s lonely, Hokage-sama”

“How come?”

Sachi’s grief was a strange thing. Despite her entire family being murdered, her ancestral home desecrated and burnt she took it calmly and clinically. Loneliness was to be expected, and yet he had failed to see it in her.

“We can feel it.”

“It’s the chakra, Hokage-sama. We use our senses to read non verbal cues and…” Ashi explained over Haiiro “Sachi’s chakra it’s all over the place. She tries to hide it, but… she can’t lie to us.”

That was… useful. Hiruzen knew that one couldn’t fool an Inuzuka; he had numerous experiences, both good and bad, of Inuzuka knowing too much just by his scent or the way his heart beat. It was a good lesson to learn in his youth, to never ever lie to an Inuzuka if not in a position of power.

He had chosen Ashi and Haiiro because of their obvious involvement in Sachi’s comeback, but now… he had another option.

“You can feel that she is lonely?”

Maybe death was not the solution.

“Yes”

Huh.

“May I?”

“Of course, Haiiro-sama.”

The old dog glanced briefly at his partner, gaining a troubled look “Sachi’s a pup, Hokage-sama. Not a child, but a pup. She had a pack, and now she’s lost because she doesn’t have an alpha. That’s why she’s actin’ up.”

A pack was a concept Hiruzen didn’t have a full grasp on; it was not exclusive to one family, but every and each one of them was part of the pack. He knew that Ashi was the Alpha, something akin to a Clan Head, but with more authority than the others. Inuzukas were brash and rough, but one squint from Ashi and they would cower in a corner and don’t even breathe until she gave them permission.

They had little information about the Kanbayashi as it was, and for Haiiro to claim that they had a similar dynamic was far fetched. For the sake of his curiosity, Hiruzen gave it some thought.

If the Kanbayashi, had, indeed, a pack structure then it meant that, perhaps, Sachi could be conditioned to stay and serve.

Tobirama used to say that his other fault, besides his undying curiosity, was the courage to actually go through his plans. Given that Tobirama had chosen him to become Hokage meant that, at least, had some faith in him. Hiruzen was willing to try.

“Thank you for everything, Ashi-sama, Haiiro-sama.”

Or perhaps not.

Ashi and Haiiro bowed, leaving shortly after. He saw the tiny flinch of Haiiro, hesitating in the doorway before he followed Ashi. It was clear that they saw something that he didn’t, and had the circumstances been different, he would have believed them.

Sachi was a gamble, a very dangerous and potentially catastrophic gamble. Setting aside the Archive and that strange bloodline limit, Sachi was as predictable as a cat with a firecracker tied to its tail. If having her in the hospital, in a somewhat controlled environment, was enough for her to give him grief then what could she potentially inflict on him, or the whole village, if she was set loose?

She was a child, a rather resourceful one but a little girl nonetheless. She was nursing a grudge against him and Tsunade, for whatever reason. If Mito-sama had been wary of them, then he didn’t want his small act of kindness to bite him in his proverbial ass later on.

Loneliness he hadn’t seen, but desolation he had. Golden eyes dulled when he closed the door, a crack in her façade enough to make her appear human. She was a child, but with too sharp of a mind; it was rare to encounter such a potential, even among the Nara. Sachi could be of great use, if only she had her loyalties in the village.

Hiruzen rose from his seat. It was getting late and his wife and children were already concerned about his all nighters.

(Sachi was Asuma’s age.)

Getting to the Hokage Residence he had to pass by the hospital. The West wing was not visible, safely tucked away at the back to avoid disturbances. Being so far away and in the middle of the night, he could feel Sachi’s gaze upon him. She liked to look out of the window, her big yellow eyes taking everything that happened below her watchpoint.

(She told him the Police Force rounds by the exact minute; there was not a clock in her room.)

Hiruzen continued on. He had a home to go back to, a wife and his children waiting for him; he had a village to protect and a country to serve.

Life went on.

.

“What’s up with the Haiiro?”

That was the greeting they got that very same morning from Tsume. Neither of them had slept, deciding to haunt to kitchen and brood silently. Haiiro had gone awfully quiet, refusing to answer any of her questions or attempts to console him; instead, he had taken a cushion out of the living room and sprawled under the kitchen table. This was something he never does unless he was truly upset.

Ashi had a heavy weight at the bottom of her stomach, something she was treating with black tar coffee in hopes of not thinking about Sachi’s imminent demise.

Haiiro had promised to her that he would protect her.

He broke his promise.

They tried convincing Sachi to speak to the Hokage, maybe butter him up and let her stay in the village or at least let her go on some shady contract or whatever. Hell, they would vouch for her because it wasn’t her fault that she had been dealt such shitty cards.

 _“Is it worth it?”_ she had asked them.

Ashi wanted to strangle her. She was so damn young and was ready to throw her life away, the lives of every one of her clanmates just because she was a stubborn little shit. Death was something Sachi didn’t fear, she had told them so.

It was forgetfulness.

With no Kanbayashi clan and no home, what could she do? They had seen how she held the hospital gown up to her neck, hiding those scars with trembling fingers. She had come back with them because she had no other choice, because she had momentarily trusted them to protect her.

Sachi laughed and joked with them.

She was going to die today.

Cue Haiiro sulking under the table and Ashi drowning herself in coffee. Tsume wasn’t pleased and Kuromaru’s inquiries were met with a deep growl.

“Stuff,” was Ashi’s elaborate answer “we’ll get over it.” or so she hoped.

They didn’t share blood, nothing except a few hours every couple of days. Ashi could see why Haiiro addressed her as a pup, small but with pointy teeth and too much of an ego to tread carefully. The Inuzuka children were often referred to as ‘brats’, which any adult Inuzuka would agree on; but, they had the clan to care for them. Curbing their behaviour and shaping them to coexist with the rest of the world was a must in their clan, since no one would work with an entitled tyke.

Sachi didn’t have a clan anymore, and that behaviour would be the death of her.

If only she _listened_.

“Doesn’t look like it.” Tsume took one mug for herself, snarling at the pungent scent “Damn, it must really bad if you took out the Water stuff.”

Haiiro huffed.

“I have to ask, though, is the clan going bankrupt?”

“What?”

“I mean, you’ve gone to the Hokage a whole lot this past month, and I do hope you aren’t sleepin’ with him because—”

“I’m a widow!”

Tsume rolled her eyes “ —because that would be very fucking weird. So, what’s up with you going to see the old man? A mission?”

If a mission meant trying to argue with the Hokage that they shouldn’t kill a child, despite that she could potentially cause a global outrage and put her in the Bingo Book for all the information she had. Only because Haiiro and herself had grown to like that brat… then yes, it was a mission.

“Nee-san, talk to me.”

“We can’t say anything, Tsume.”

“Fuck that, I know the rules. Are you okay? Should I call Inoichi to check your attic?”

Ashi’s chest warmed just a little, Tsume’s concern making her feel loved but leaving a bitter aftertaste. Worrying her little sister was not something she wanted.

“Sage no.” Inoichi, the nosy bastard would get himself off on the details of Sachi’s mind. She was grateful that the Hokage didn’t want to include the Yamanaka in the whole Kanbayashi mess because she would never hear the end of it; and Sachi would be left in a vegetable state, most likely. “It’s not like that. The Hokage needed us for something, but not anymore.” and the last part tasted like ashes in her mouth.

She could practically feel Haiiro’s snarl.

“So you’re upset because he doesn’t need you? Are we really going bankrupt?”

“We aren’t broke, Tsume. With all the missions we’ve taking and the clinics we’re good, just— let it be. We’ll get over it.”

Tsume wasn’t convinced; neither was Ashi.

“Better gettin’ over it fast ‘cause the pack’s assembling. We’ve got to welcome Shiga and his bitch.”

“Shit, almost forgot. Thanks Kuromaru.” Ashi got up, letting the pure black caffeine in the sink and cracking her spine. “We’ve got to bring out the sake”

“Already did.”

“I love you, Tsume.” said sister gave her a roll of her eyes and finished her coffee quickly.

They had to prepare the parlor to accommodate their guests as well as give them drinks, maybe some snacks if Haiiro decided to get out from under the table. The private life of a Clan Head was intimately tied to that of their clan; Ashi was no different, and even though her heart was sunken to her ankles she had to continue.

(It was Isamu all over again. Not fast enough, not smart enough— _not enough_. She wasn’t able to save a child from a fate she had thrown her towards.)

“Are you really okay?”

Ashi did stop then, hearing the trouble behind those words. Truthfully, she hasn’t been okay in years, but that’s not something she could burden Tsume with. Nor anyone.

“Worry about your business, now we have work to do.” there was no bite in her words, and her sister took it with a shake of her head.

Sometimes, Ashi wished she was enough.

At least once.

.

The meeting was going the same way as any other Inuzuka clan meeting went.

With everyone drunk.

Ashi had welcomed Shiga and Aimi, with their little pup Unari, and introduced them to the whole clan. Aimi had been uncomfortable at the beginning, with so many excited people and dogs alike flocking both her and her son. Shiga fought them off easily, setting boundaries and limits.

For good measure, once the procedures and official details were settled, she was seated with the other mothers and expecting women. No one would ever dare coming near their group by threat of great violence; not even Shiga.

Overall, they would count it as a win. Any Inuzka would find any good reason for a meeting, if not for the drinks then for the company. They were a social bunch, and even though everyone was in their own little place in the hierarchy, they got along as any family would. Ashi had missed those reunions, were they would spar and drink and eat together until they awoke the next morning with a pulsating hungover.

Which is why the guilt of not enjoying it was worse. She watched from afar, at the back table while the men and the children played outside. Her foul mood shouldn’t waste the general cheer, so she took a tumbler of sake and sipped it quietly while Haiiro was curled behind her back.

“It’s good to have you back, Ashi-chan.” there was only two people that could get away calling her that, and those were Hisumi-baa-sama and Kirasu-jii-sama; her Elders.

Hisumi-baa-sama inched closer carefully, her bones groaning louder than her words. She was old, even older than her cousin Kirasu that was currently trying to tackle Niiro on the grass. Greyish hair with streaks of white and a round face with her still bright red fangs on her cheeks. She had a triangle on her forehead, although faded into a light brown by time.

“It’s good to be back.” she said with honesty, bitter as it was.

“Hmm, try harder dear, might convince me before I die.”

Ashi would have laughed at her dry humor, but death was a touchy subject as of late. She wondered, had Sachi been ‘disposed of’ yet? Did she cry, did she bargain?

Was it quick, was it painful?

“You aren’t old enough for that yet.”

The old Alpha chuckled “Kirasu might argue otherwise.”

“Well, fuck him.”

At that, she did laugh. They heard a grating cry outside and very loud pops coming out from said Elder who must have heard them. Ignoring the curses threw at them, Hisumi continued “Truly, dear, it’s good to have you back. We all thought we might have you lost you there.”

Lost was an euphemism for suicide.

“Did you came here to do a wellfare check on me?” Ashi had been angling for a joke, but Hisumi-baa-sama’s dark eyes were blank. Oh.

“Do I have a reason to?”

Ashi downed her drink in response.

“That includes you, Haiiro. I can hear you sulk from the forest, and it’s not the first time this month.”

Ashi remembered Hisumi as alpha, and her not subtle approach towards anything.

Haiiro bared his teeth in warning, and Ashi pet him between his eyes to stop him getting into a fight that will give him more trouble than it was worth. Hisumi ignored his challenge to twitch her nose at her, saying “Your scents’ changed.”

And that was how their nice evening started to shatter.

A change in scent could mean a plethora of things, from pregnancy to grief, happiness or sadness; even hunger, if one was attentive enough. That included the people they have been with, and what they did all day. Hisumi might be old, but her nose still worked perfectly.

They have been sloppy.

Hisumi inched closer “I don’t know that scent,” she started “who is it—?”

Ashi and Haiiro barely got to have a heart attack at being outed to the whole clan, who was surely listening in on their conversation, when they sensed two small chakra flares and a prolongated one.

Hokage’s summons.

Various heads turned to the roof, some of ANBU but others reacting to an unfamiliar chakra signature in their territory. Hisumi shook her head when Kirasu started cursing the poor courier out, the others falling silent with concern.

“Go, I’ll keep the party goin’.”

“Thanks, Haiiro, be right back. Keep ‘em safe.”

Ashi got up quickly, catching Tsume’s eyes and making sure she stayed to keep the clan in their grounds. The Inuzuka could get unhinged when drunk and they needed to be mindful of their neighbours. Hisumi granted the look that meant that her interrogation wasn’t over, but Ashi took her jacket and headed out in seconds.

It was nearing midnight, and at that hour few things were a good reason to be called to the Hokage. The alarms weren’t called, so it wasn’t a threat to the village. Bat made the hand signs for ‘important’ and ‘meeting’. She signaled back, asking if it was a Clan Council but they made the sign for ‘no’ and made the sign for ‘hospital’.

Ashi hurried through the rooftops, the way too familiar in the last weeks. There was a flicker of hope that she was smothering inside of her, because she had been only called by the Hokage to sort the mess with Sachi and perhaps—

She found Tsunade in the hospital corridor to the east wing, deep bags under her eyes and a dangerous scowl on her face. “I don’t get paid enough for this.” was her official statement.

“The Hokage…?”

“Inside. You— just get in there, I’m tired. Please.”

If the hime had resorted to begging, it was _bad_.

The room was the same as yesterday. Sterile except the gathered machines near the window and around the bed where Sachi was chained to. Ashi was used to see Sachi’s white hair pop up from underneath the blanket, her easy smile saying ‘you’re back!’

This time, she saw charcoal grey hair up to a little girl’s chin, pale skin and the yellowest eyes she had ever seen.

And two bright crimson fangs on her cheeks.

“Oh fuck.”

The Hokage nodded in understanding.

.

A few hours earlier, the Hokage proposed Sachi a deal.

Sachi had been thinking about a plan to get out of the hospital again, and so far, her most promising one was to shout from the window and hope to attract the attention of those guards patrolling the streets. Another one was to jump out of the window and pray she didn’t break her legs and run for it.

Seals were out of the question, since Tsunade had put chakra stoppers directly onto her gates to avoid chakra leaking out of her pores until she was fully healed. If she was desperate enough she could bite her tongue and use her blood to make a seal, but Sachi didn’t trust her system enough to use her tongue and not have it explode.

So, waiting it was.

Praying to her gods had twisted her gut, and so she avoided thinking about them. Death was a certainty, but she didn’t want to die, not alone and so far from home. Who would make sure her soul passes? Who will remember her? What about the Archive and the others?

(How could they leave her family to die and keep her alive?)

Before she got too desperate, the Hokage entered. Sachi felt her body freeze, the same aura that Chika-sama once had about her.

Right up until she betrayed her.

Sachi couldn’t stop to see the similarities between them; both old, wise beyond their years. They had the same wrinkles that spoke of experience and the façade of fragility that Sachi didn’t trust one bit. Sarutobi Hiruzen was a powerful man, and Sachi knew she wasn’t in his good graces.

He would betray her as Chika-sama did, Sachi was certain.

When Hiruzen came into her room after lunch, Sachi was ready to use herself as a bomb to die by her own terms instead of waiting another second. Thankfully, Hiruzen stopped her and asked:

“Would you like to make a deal?”

Extremely suspicious, Sachi had asked the terms.

“I can’t let you go on a good conscience Sachi. Alone, you won’t survive long, and when I am willing to give you a painless death and put an end to the Archive, others will not. The… creature that has killed your family might be looking for you.” and after a slight pause, he added “But, after giving it some thought, I decided that the problem is the Archive. For you it’s a legacy, and for us it’s a threat. Are you willing to give up the Archive, in exchange for a life here?”

Sachi’s mind went blank. The Hokage was giving her a place to stay, but the Archive—

“Yes, I know you can’t physically surrender the Archive, but you have said that you don’t want to use it. I can’t assure it will be the same life you have had until now, but I can ensure you are looked after.” his eyes softened “A home, a family. Ashi-sama and Haiiro-sama have been kind to you, haven’t they? I can let them keep you, if you accept.”

There was a knot in her throat. Ashi and Haiiro have been good to her, yes, kind when they didn’t have to. They came back every time, the wolf that hunted for her and the same woman that carried her for miles because she was ill. The Hokage was promising her a family and a home, a loss that was rotting her very soul.

But then there was the pain, the suffering and the torture she had been put through to be made the vessel of the Archive, the purpose of the Kanbayashi and the only mark that testified to their existence. Sachi had been taught to always preserve the Archive, and that the Archive will protect her in return; offering answers to the most difficult questions, a solution to every problem. To shut it off would mean that the sacrifice of every and each on of the Kanbayashi that have died —Michiko, Rie, Harumi… Sumi, Father, Brother, Mother— was meaningless. Insult to injury to the those that laid still on the snow back in Snow, sentenced to roam the plains because of the massacre of the creature that bathed in their blood and set their home aflame.

“I’ll stay.”

Sachi didn’t ask for the Archive.

Fast forward a few hours, Sachi was officially _Inuzuka_ Sachi. Tsunade had applied the disguise seals on Sachi’s scalp, which coated the underside of the hair follicles to tint them as they grew. When the medium to apply the seal was a tincture, the hair grew to be that very same color, mimicking the appearance of natural hair without the dubious smell of normal dye.

Tsunade had commented on how damn useful would have been in her early years, but otherwise applied some activated charcoal and helped it grew a few inches as to not give Sachi the look of a newly released inmate.

Using the same seal they added some iron oxide pigment from a very convenient blush powder, drawing two red triangles on her cheek and—

That was it.

Seeing herself in the mirror was jarring. The only thing that was familiar were her eyes, since Tsunade had outright refused to get a needle and delicately put the seal on her irises to change the color. Her reasoning was something along the lines of blindness and insufficient payment. Still, Sachi buried the uneasiness building in her chest; it was a decision to stay, but was it a good one?

(She would never know the answer).

“I wasn’t aware that seals could change features.” the Hokage remarked, tracing the seal she had drawn on a piece of paper for Tsunade to replicate “For how long will they stay?”

“As long as I have chakra.” Sachi won’t tell them that the seals were connected to her chakra pathways, mangled as they were, to sustain them and keep the pigment evenly distributed. Sumi had taught her that seal when he forgot to wash off the seals before he came to visit her. Seeing Sumi with pitch black hair and brown eyes had made her skin crawl by the uncanny and vaguely familiar features she had always known him by; quickly replaced by curiosity.

How would have _he_ reacted, seeing her like that?

“Sage save me from seal masters.” Tsunade mumbled, taking out the bandages around her hands. They were wrinkled and the cuts were a faded purple on her fingertips. The Dark Release marks faded once Tsunade checked for any issues, saying “You better don’t use chakra until they are healed, no absorption or transferring or whatever. And no seals, ever; understood?”

Sachi nodded, since an annoyed Tsunade was a mean Tsunade and she didn’t want to spend a second in that hospital anymore. The medic left, going to fetch a messenger to bring Ashi and Haiiro to the hospital.

Alone with the Hokage, Sachi calmed her nerves by asking:

“Are Ashi and Haiiro okay with this?”

The Hokage didn’t answer.

“... they don’t know?”

Silence.

“Oh fuck.”

Ashi entered the room with the sensitivity of a raging bison, her hair tussled to one side instead of back and with an increasingly paling skin tone.

(Sachi would remember that moment as the landmark of her new life).

“Ashi-sama, thank you for your promptness. I believe we might have something to discuss with you.”

“O-Of course, Hokage-sama… Sachi, is that you?” Ashi walked slowly until she reached her. She got down on one knee and touched one of her cheeks, tracing the triangle “For the Sage… it isn’t a tattoo, is it?”

Sachi felt suddenly shy. Her fingers are cold, but her gaze is what makes her nervous. There’s some sort of wonder behind her eyes, a little frown as she cradles her face gently; there’s confusion and Sachi doesn’t wait to see if there’s disappointment or not.

“Seals.” she provides, “I don’t want more tattoos.”

The sealwork of the Archive took every inch of her skin twice over. More tattoos could potentially break the thin balance she had reached with her own body; having another meltdown was not on her list. Also, sincerely speaking, Sachi believed that having face tattoos was a very bad idea.

She took a lock of her hair, the ends chopped clean to avoid strange white split ups; taking a not so subtle sniff, “How…?”

“Is it convincing?” the Hokage asked, amused.

“Well, yes— she doesn’t smell off, and the fangs…” she rubbed them for emphasis, looking at her fingertips from any paint on them “But why?”

The Hokage gave a very small smirk “Sachi-kun and I have reached a consensus. I believe you would be willing to take her in, considering the circumstances.”

Sachi watched as Ashi’s face fell to the floor, turning very white and then slightly green as the implications settled in her mind.

“T-take her in? As in, the Inuzuka?”

“You aren’t obligated, obviously, but we can’t keep Sachi-kun in the hospital forever. I understand it’s sudden, but as it stands...”

She picked up the end of the sentence. Sachi was no fool, and neither were the others in the room. Death had been her fate up until the Hokage decided to strike a deal, and even then she couldn’t shake those icy claws scratching at the back of her mind. She needed to get out of there, but she was dependent on Ashi, a virtual stranger that could very well refuse—

“I understand, Hokage-sama, but— ”

Sachi couldn’t help but grab onto Ashi’s sleeve. She didn’t want anyone besides her, the only person that had given her a resemblance of kindness. The woman noticed, stopping herself and asking instead “For how long?”

It was a blow. Sachi didn’t want to hang on baseless hope, because her life was at stake. The Hokage promised her a home, a family, for the Archive. She would give so much more for a fraction of their deal, but she needed Ashi to consent or it would be meaningless.

“For as long as Sachi-kun keeps her end of the bargain.”

It was a challenge. The Hokage was baiting her to see if she could keep a promise. Sachi would bet her Kanbayashi pride on this, but for a man that didn’t know to what lengths she was willing to go to keep her word, it was a taunt. However, Sachi kept her hand curled on the fabric of Ashi’s leather jacket, not once meeting the curious gaze of the Hokage.

Ashi turned to her, using a soft tone she said “Is that true, Sachi? Will you stay?”

“ _Yes_.”

She took a few seconds to move, Sachi fixating in the way the smile lines around her mouth tensed or the tiny squint of eyes. It would be much later that she would know that it was Ashi’s tells when she was deciding if someone was saying the truth.

Ashi nodded curtly, looking at the Hokage and Tsunade respectively “What are the details?”

Tsunade stepped in, holding a small folder “You came across Sachi on the northern border. Keep it vague, Iron or Rice it’s fine; she was a prisoner of the rogues you were doing recon on and took her to the village because she might have had intel on them. You can flower it up but don’t go overboard, as for her extended hospital stay…” the medic made a point to glare daggers at Sachi “Torture.”

Sachi almost opened her mouth to disagree. Torture was too heavy of a word, the process had been painful and horrifying but it had been necessary. The Archive was too big for the human body to handle without discomfort; to say that she had been torture would imply that she was a victim, something she was _absolutely not_.

“Backstory?”

“ANBU classified. I just came it on the fly, but we need to not give the others too much to start asking questions. Family dead, home destroyed, the works. Play it up on the trauma, and you,” she pointed to Sachi “don’t say anything about the Kanbayashi, Archive or anything, really. If we are going to do this then you have to keep your mouth shut.”

Tsunade used cold hard facts against Sachi, and she recognized why. She didn’t have any intention of talking about the Kanbayashi, not when that thing was still out there. Sachi didn’t like her tone though, but didn’t dare to speak up against the woman who brought her back from the dead twice.

“I just take her home, then?”

Hiruzen nodded.

Sachi held her breath as Ashi turned to her. Her expression was clouded by emotions Sachi didn’t quite catch, but she really hoped they were in her favour.

“Do you wanna come with me, darlin’?” she asked her softly. “Are you okay with this?”

How couldn’t she be, when she was the last chance she had?

(And how true that was.)

“Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go, Sachi's got adopted. Let the shenanigans begin.


	5. Surprise

The birth of Inuzuka Sachi was not an easy one.

Figuratively, of course.

Ashi had a throughout chat with the Hokage, because tipsy she might be, but not a moron. The old man had laid it neatly for her; Sachi was on probation, a test of sorts until they find a more permanent solution. Death, in clear terms. The Hokage had been lenient enough to give Sachi a chance, only because she behaved relatively well when she was with the Inuzuka alphas.

It wasn’t as if Ashi hated the kid, Sachi could be sweet when she felt like it. Yet, she came with a lot of baggage.

“This is Sachi.”

The Inuzuka clan stared at her, Sachi stiff as a board next to Haiiro and not even breathing. Ashi could tell that she was nervous and afraid, her eyes skittish as she glanced at every dog in the room. The glares were returned eagerly, as the clansmen awaited their alpha for orders; in the meantime, they assessed her.

One could choke on the tension, most coming from her sister. Tsume, as she always tended to do, had been drinking heavily with the others, giving her more of a sharp edge than usual. Her eyes were locked on Sachi’s form, tiny under all the stares and obvious sharp teeth.

“From now on, she’s gonna be one of us.”

Tsume and Kuromaru bared their teeth silently, a challenge. She was angry, not because of Sachi, but because she hadn’t told her anything. Her scent was all but a declaration for a fight, and Ashi stood tall and unyielding.

She was the alpha, and they would follow her orders.

Haiiro bared his fangs. Kuromaru was not pleased either, a new pup in the hierarchy, not only in the pack, but in the main family. It was a conflict of status, and it will come to bite their asses in the future.

Her partner had scented Sachi before they even got near the Nara Forest, acting as a buffer between them and the clan before they decided to attack the newcomer.

Inzuka’s were loyal but territorial. Unari, Shiga’s pup, had been welcomed easily. They recognized his parents and the scent of a newborn was mellow and sweet, since their chakra pathways aren’t fully formed and their affinities not yet apparent. Inuzuka’s went mostly by nose, an important source for clues when regarding another person.

Eyes were deceiving, noses were not.

The problem with Sachi was herself. Her scent was neutral in terms of chakra, Tsunade complaining about how her system consisted of only Yin and Yang. The big _but_ in her case was that her chakra bled through her every pore, something that unsettled the raw senses of all gathered in the parlor. Sachi’s emotions, very much like her chakra, were obvious in a room full of trackers.

Sachi had went from enthusiastically getting out of the hospital to plummeting into dispair. Haiiro was at her side, trying to shield her and ease her nerves but she kept on panicking and easing in a whirl of emotions that hung in the air. To her credit, Sachi showed none of it.

Which was even worse, because Inuzuka didn’t like when people lied to them.

“She’s officially my ward, and I hope I don’t have to tell you how to behave.”

It was a reassurance for Sachi. The clansmen had gotten the memo just by reading her body language and her scent, but Sachi was not familiar with their silent communication. She only saw nearly fifty people with even more dogs baring a hole through her soul. It must be jarring, considering that the only people she had come in contact with could be counted on four fingers.

Although, more surprising was for the Inuzuka. Noses crunched, tails still and ears pinned; their respective partners attentive and focused. Sachi’s scent was buzzing around, agitated like a storm that unnerved the others in return.

“Understood?”

All of the Inuzuka, including the guests, bowed their heads with their eyes to the floor.

“Dismissed.”

The parlor cleared quickly but silently, every person with heavy thoughts and heady impressions. It wasn’t the end of it, she knew, but the night was late and they would never question her outright.

Hisumi and Kirasu were the last to leave, Elders in their own right and just below Ashi’s position. They didn’t say anything, as Haiiro made clear that they were not to approach. Hisumi, ever the cunning bitch, smiled slyly before making her way to the backyard and closing the sliding door.

The only ones that remained were Tsume and Kuromaru, second in command of both alphas and currently living under the same roof.

If Ashi had to describe their expressions, she would say _murderous_.

The woman got up from her cushion, Kuromaru with his head low on the ground. Ashi didn’t move, letting the barest hint of chakra overpower the killer intent that Tsume was exuding. Her little sister was quick to anger, a dangerous trait considering their careers.

Even more so when she felt justified.

“Tomorrow.”

And it was a promise, because if they fought now, there would be only broken egos and bones. Kuromaru, the smarter one, grabbed her by her jacket and dragged her away; Tsume never once breaking eye contact.

“You okay there, pup?”

Sachi snapped out of her daze, eyes wide and very pale. She opened her mouth a few times until she let out the words “... w-who was that?”

“My sister, and Haiiro’s brother.”

Sachi went grey.

“I… don’t think they like me.”

Haiiro put his nose on her cheek, easing some of the cloying chakra that spoke of the few moments before imminent death. “Give ‘em time, pup. Let’s show you your room.”

The girl followed after the dog with unsure steps, Ashi keeping a hand on her shoulder to guide her. Tomorrow was not a day she was looking forward to, her clan probably demanding answers of why and how she had decided to adopt.

Knowing Tsume, she will ask with her fists.

“All yours.”

It was one of the guest rooms, with a futon and a small table. The Inuzuka main house didn’t have that many visitors staying over, despite the fact that it was spacious enough to host at least a dozen people.

Once upon a time, that very house had been filled with people and dogs, children and elders alike. Now, only Ashi and Tsume with their partners remained; grandparents and parents long dead, and Isamu cremated.

Sachi looked around, not quite daring to step in, before asking “Where’s your room?”

“Left hallway, all the way to the end.” Haiiro answered, “Tsume’s to the right.”

“If there’s something you need you can fetch us, okay?”

“... okay.”

“Hey, Sachi, look at me.” Ashi kneeled to meet her eyes, taking her face gently in her hands to ground her. “It’s gonna be alright. We’re gonna help you as long as you want to, but you can’t quit this fast.”

She frowned. “I don’t wanna quit.” just like that, her stubbornness came back, and with it her strength. “I won’t quit.”

“Good. Get some rest, darlin’, tomorrow is gonna be a long day.”

Ashi really hoped she made the good decision.

.

Tomorrow went as expected.

Except for Sachi.

Her first night in the Inuzuka household was spent wide awake and contemplating her life. The Kanbayashi had been thousands, every House with three digits in terms of people and even more gathered when they counted those those that visited the Heart.

The Inuzuka was a small clan, composed of three small families. The clan was not old enough for them to keep the bloodline, depending on people outside the families to get introduced and keep the traits by thoroughly educating the children.

However, what made the Inuzuka unique were their partners. Willingly choosing to raise their young with infant death harbingers, they knew no fear. Sachi had seen wolves, enough for a lifetime, but never had she seen such colored coats.

The wolves of the Land of Snow were, obviously, white with a few streaks of grey. That’s what made them so deadly, besides their silent stalk; you only knew they were there when you heard them howl.

There were more wolves than there were people, and despite how much Sachi tried convincing herself that she was safe with Ashi, she felt as if she was the main course for those beasts. Like Haiiro, they talked too.

“Tear her apart!”

“For the throat, for the throat!”

Had Sachi wondered what wolves would say had they been able to speak, that was exactly what they would say.

The morning had started nice and early, when all the Inuzuka awoke from their hangovers and decided that a brawl was better than medicine. Sachi had rushed through the maze of corridors to find Ashi’s sister breaking doors and taking out knives.

Ninjas were a mystery to Sachi. She knew the basics, mercenaries, killers for hire or work hands when needed for dirty business. A sneaky bunch, dangerous to be near and, more often than not, too troublesome.

As she watched them fight, Sachi realized it was much more than that.

Ashi ducked in the last second, grabbing Tsume’s arms and twisting it with the momentum, making her fall into the space she had been standing on. Then, just as fast, threw her over her shoulder and planted her on her back with a heavy thud. Ashi could kill her very easily, with that many knives lying around, or snap her neck in half; she had more than enough strength to do it.

But she didn’t.

“Anyone else?”

A man stepped in, cracking his knuckles.

“Why are they fighting?” Sachi asked, distraught.

Haiiro was with her, watching from the stone benches with the other Inuzuka as their alpha beat the disobedience out of them. Ashi had a few scratches, inevitable as her sister was a maniac, favouring her right leg as she made her opponents wish they never stepped into the ring. The others weren’t so lucky.

The Inuzuka had a ring for fights, as any normal clan did.

“They are sorting out their problems, pup.” he answered, keeping a good eye on Kuromaru as Tsume sulked in her corner. “You good?”

Sachi had less than five hours to get accustomed to her new life, and so she couldn’t quite tell. “Can’t they… talk?”

Around them, a few chuckled.

“We like roughin’, you’ll get used to it. Word can do nothin’ when pain speaks louder, ya’know?”

Sachi did not know.

Everytime Ashi landed a hit, the Inuzuka cheered; when the opponent did the same, they howled. The dogs were barking loudly, and some even fighting amongst themselves as the adrenaline and blood mixed together.

“... are they fighting because of me?”

The man collapsed in an awkward heap at Ashi’s feet, Sachi considering how he will walk again with his legs bent like that.

“Another one?”

A woman was next.

“Kinda. You’re a surprise, and we don’t really like surprises. Bite her neck!”

“Oh.”

“It’s not like that.” he laughed, encouraging Ashi to maul the poor woman. “Surprises for ninjas means bad business; pups are good surprises, and you are a pup.”

Sachi doubted that. She had the coloring alright, with the red fangs and the same shade of hair as Ashi and half of the Inuzuka, but she lacked the personality, the charm, and the deadly companion. The youngsters, barely teenagers, were accompanied by a wolf their height and twice their weight, and had knives strapped to their thighs.

Everything spoke of danger and caution; Sachi, stripped of anything that gave her an advantage, was left with Haiiro.

She hated it.

“You can step in, if you wanna.”

Yeah, sure.

“Why would I?”

Haiiro huffed. “Dunno, pup. Prove yourself?”

Ashi choked the woman until she fainted. Sachi imagined herself in her place, wiping the sandy ring with their faces until she left them raw and bloody and felt…

Unsettled.

Tsunade had bound her hands with bandages, hiding her Dark Release marks and very sternly reminding her that she wasn’t allowed to use seals; the punishment clear in her snarl. She had proven herself, once, gaining freedom from her House and fleeing to the Archive training program. Her seals had given her a chance, the only thing that made her stand out enough for the Archive herself to overlook her faults and keep her.

Now, with no clan, no seals and no diamonds, Sachi was lost.

And yet, breaking bones was not her first option to accomplish it.

Ashi was doing that by herself well enough.

The fights went for two more hours, the Inuzuka eventually getting hungry or succumbing to their injuries. Ashi was not alpha because it had been a title she had been born with, but something she had earned by subduing everyone that dared go against her.

That made Sachi feel strangely proud.

Because when the last contestant lay unconscious on the ring, Ashi had come to her and ruffled her hair with bloody fingertips and a wide smile. Strange she was, but she had done much more than anyone in her life.

She had fought for her, and won.

It made the stares more bearable, as they made their way to the house for Ashi to patch herself up. Grinning victoriously, she asked “You hungry?”

“Are you okay?” she was limping, and her clothes were dustied and torn.

“Of course, pup, better than ever.”

Sachi followed her and Haiiro to the kitchen, her nerves eased by how sunny she was considering the battle contest. Her suspicion was still high, although she decided to let it be as Ashi made breakfast.

“You need help?”

“Don’t bother, darlin’, it takes much more than a few punches to get me down. You like bacon? Nice. Did you see Obu? That bastard!”

Haiiro barked a laugh. “You could have kicked his ass harder, Ashi. That way he would stop trying to piss us off.”

Ashi laughed too. “He has the mindset of a pup, poor Chairo. I don’t know how she manages.”

Sachi didn’t know what was so funny. Obu, a young male Inuzuka with black hair and hazel eyes had been twisted like a braid to the point that he had to be dragged out by two other men. He hadn’t lasted five minutes, which was enough for Ashi to punch him in the stomach, kick him with her leg in his ribs and then reshaping his entire skeleton. His partner, a golden medium sized wolf, had snickered with glee when they brought him back to her.

“Chairo’s a good bitch when she wanna gain something, but a dumbass the rest of the time. They suit each other just fine. Do you have bones?”

“I’ll take ‘em out. Go ask the other two while I make the eggs.” Haiiro did so, going deeper into the house while Sachi remained seated at the kitchen table, watching Ashi move quickly. “How did you like the fights, Sachi? Cool, hmm?”

“Um… kinda? You hurt them a lot.”

She cackled in response. “Don’t worry, darlin’, they knew what they were getting into. We usually make up our problems with fights, so you don’t need to be scared if you see someone going at it in the rings.”

Of course they had more than one fight ring.

“What was the problem? I mean, why they were angry at you? Shouldn’t they be fighting... me?”

“You aren’t part of the fights, darlin’. Children and pups don’t fight the adults and vice versa, to avoid angry parents killing those that hurt their own, ya’know? They weren’t angry, but a little miffed because I haven’t told them I wanted to adopt and kinda been absent for a while.” she explained, putting more food into a giant frying pan “A weird surprise. They will warm up, but they are kinda worried if I snapped or something.”

Ashi was being good natured, although Sachi was more worried. “I don’t want to… um, trouble your clan?”

“Oh no, darlin’! You have only a few hours here, don’t go apologizing for doing nothing wrong. I brought you here because I wanted to,” and because she would have been already dead if she hadn’t “and I can. I fought them, I won, so that’s that. Welcome to the clan.”

She didn’t have time to be conflicted about the emotions that came from that greeting, Tsume and Kuromaru entering the kitchen. The former had a half healed black eye and bandages around her bare arms. They locked eyes for a moment, Sachi caught staring at her injuries as Tsume bared her teeth at her.

Very wisely, Sachi looked away.

“How’s your lip, Tsume?”

“Fuckin’ busted, thanks to you.” was the seething reply, Tsume taking a seat right across Sachi. “Whatcha lookin’ at?”

“Let the pup alone, Tsume. Ashi won right and fair.” Haiiro said, diffusing her temper while he laid at Sachi’s feet, waiting for Ashi to finish cooking.

“Fuck you Haiiro, and you too Kuromaru.”

“What did I do?” the black wolf asked flatly, settling near her. “It was your fight, don’t mess it up with me.”

“Could have helped me!”

“Nu-uh, human business, not ours. She’s got his scent all over her.”

Both women stopped at that, pinning Haiiro who stuck his tongue at them. “Someone’s gotta protect the pup.”

“What does that mean?” Sachi asked, picking up the strange looks on the Inuzuka women. “Is it bad?”

“Nah, darlin’. Scenting is something we do to mark our own, like rubbing or petting, so others know who they belong to.” she explained, finishing her task. “I didn’t know he scented you, it does explain why the ninken didn’t bark at you when we came here though.”

Sachi had believed that the wolves were educated enough not to bite strangers; apparently, not quite. She owed Haiiro a thank you for his foresight.

“Of course he did, he has been wanting a pup for years now.” Tsume hissed “Didn’t think you would be cradle robbing for one.”

“Careful how you speak, Tsume, you might choke on that envy someday.”

“Envy? Why would I envy you, you furry fuck? I don’t go bringing stray puppies into the clan because I feel like it.”

Ow.

The young Archive didn’t know how to feel by that jab. It was clear that Tsume didn’t like her or didn’t want her there, but because she was under Ashi and Haiiro’s rank she had to listen. That didn’t mean she held any thoughts to herself.

Haiiro snapped at her, almost tearing her calf underneath the table.

“Tsume, shut your mouth.” Ashi intervened, pointing to a cupboard “Set the table.”

“Shouldn’t she do it?” she pointed to Sachi.

“I’ve asked you.”

Tsume held her sister’s gaze for only a second before rising and doing what she was told. It was clear who was the alpha, even in the house. Sachi, however, was wary of Tsume as one was wary of a wild animal.

Unpredictable, wild and feral.

(That was Tsume’s opinion of her too.)

Soon enough the table was set, the tension placated by Ashi’s calmness and no bullshit attitude, always available for physical reinforcement if not heeded. Truth be told, Sachi was famished. The food from the hospital hadn’t been the greatest, and although her usual diet was exclusively tied to whatever the kitchens made that day, she was open for anything as long as it wasn’t any kind of porridge.

Ashi filled her plate with bacon, eggs and some sort of cheesy bread that made Sachi’s twist with want. She would have eaten it with her hands, had Ashi not stopped her.

“Wait.”

She did.

“Why?”

“Because she fuckin’ told you so.”

Ashi sat at the end of the table, ignoring her sister snappy remarks and saying “We have a rule for eating, darlin’. You have to wait until everyone is ready, and then wait for your turn.”

That didn’t make any sense “Why?”

In the Heart the kitchens were always open. Every Kanbayashi had a routine, and couldn’t be bothered to follow a schedule when life was so unpredictable. This was even more complicated when you were a traveler and came back at irregular intervals. Because of this, one could always go to the kitchens, grab a plate and let the cooks fill it with whatever they came up with for that workday. It didn’t matter how high you were in the clan, or how young or annoying; you always had the kitchens open.

What was an eating order?

“Incredible.” Tsume rolled her eyes, Kuromaru huffing a laugh.

“I’m the alpha, so I go first. Then, depending on your place in the hierarchy you go first or not.”

“… that’s weird.”

Tsume growled. “Didn’t ask for your opinion.”

One look from Ashi was enough to make her go back to her seat; then she turned to Sachi, a careful expression on her face. “It can be, but it’s important. Do you understand that?”

“Yes.”

“Good. You’re a child, but not young enough not to respect that. If you stay here with us you have to follow our customs, alright? I’m the alpha, and Tsume is my second, so you will have to eat after her.”

“… okay.” Tsume was looking especially smug in that moment, flashing her too sharp fangs at her.

If it wasn’t enough, she asked. “Shouldn’t she eat after you, nee-chan? If she’s your daughter and all.”

“Sachi’s not my daughter.” That much was clear. Sachi had no interest in having another mother, knowing what her first one did to her, but it stung just a tiny bit at being rejected so quickly. “She’s my ward. Everyone has to gain their place, related or not.”

After a moment of thought, right before Ashi began to eat, she asked “If I fight Tsume and win, then I can eat before her?”

The kitchen fell into a heavy silence, Haiiro rising from his seat near her chair and willingly put himself between her and Tsume’s newfound interest. Realizing she might have done something wrong, she added “I’m just saying.”

Tsume smiled devilishly “Oh, I know what’re you sayin’.” her teeth were sharper than any beast she had encountered in the Needle Forest, speaking in more pain and threats than they had “Wanna go for it?”

… maybe she had underestimated Tsume’s desire for blood.

“Tsume, don’t.” Kuromaru chastised.

“Why’s everyone looking at me funny like that?” she raucously laughed, “I won’t kill her, nee-chan won’t let me to. But,” and she made sure to emphasize every word that came next with clear killing intent in her tone “if she keeps pokin’, I’m gonna poke back.”

Sachi’s first instinct was to match Tsume’s challenge. Her mother had condemned Sachi’s pride ever since the beginning, arguing that someday, she will die at the hands of someone she had no business angering. In a foreign land and a strange clan, Sachi had no power, no influence and no leverage to even scratch that woman.

It was only a matter of time until she could.

Yet, he wasn’t a Kanbayashi now, but an Inuzuka. Ashi hadn’t stopped Tsume for sharing her opinions, and had no intention to, because it was a lesson.

That, Sachi understood. Her pride and her frustration of not knowing had no weight in her current state of affairs. It was survival, she needed to adapt.

Tsume was Ashi’s second in command, and Sachi was below her.

Sachi lowered her head, just like she saw the Inuzuka do the previous night, although not as low as she would to Ashi. “Sorry.”

The apology tasted like ash in her mouth, hungry and trapped, her conscience acted up before she crossed Ashi’s kindness. Luckily, Tsume seemed satisfied with that, giving her a smug smirk before dismissing her existence.

Sachi had to be careful.

“You two done with the dick measuring contest?” Ashi commented, throwing daggers at her younger sister who was suddenly in a brighter mood.

The gods only knew how Sachi would survive the Inuzuka.

(Or how the Inuzuka would survive Sachi.)

.

Breakfast finished, Tsume and Kuromaru stayed in the kitchen to clean the plates. Another rule of the Inuzuka, that said that ‘ _the one who made the food doesn’t have to wash dishes_ ’.

Sachi had been excused this time in favour of accompanying Ashi and Haiiro to the village, in order to buy her some clothes and whatever more she needed for her stay in the Inuzuka. She was nervous, because the only bits that she had glimpsed of Leaf where the streets below her hospital room and some alleys when she had escaped from it.

For some reason, it felt strange to be let out, even with chaperones, when she didn’t belong there.

Haiiro, sensitive as always, slipped his big head under her hand to guide her. “We’re gonna make you real pretty, pup.”

“Tsume!” Ashi yelled in the doorway “you need something?!”

“No!”

“We’re off!”

“‘Kay!”

Sachi wondered why they needed to scream when they had so keen senses. When Ashi stepped out of the house, a chorus of howls erupted, echoing throughout the entire compound. She held onto Haiiro’s fur, startled, before Ashi said “They’re telling the clan we’re leaving.”

“You understand the howls?” it seemed strange, because to Sachi’s ears, it sounded like death still.

Ashi ruffled her hair, saying “You will too.”

The sun was high in the sky, heating the ground when it wasn’t covered by the cool shade of the trees. Using the Hokage Tower as reference, the Inuzuka Compound was on the lower eastern block. Leaf had two levels to its village, the first one elevated by the mountain that supported the Hokage Monument and the rest at its feet.

“That’s the Nara quarters, hella smart but too lazy to show it.” Haiiro said once they passed the south-eastern gate.

“I know about them.” Sachi replied, watching the dark fence and deep green gate, guarded by two Nara clansmen doubled over a board, shogi or chess.

“You do?” Ashi asked, interested.

“High intelligence, strategy oriented and capable of using binding jutsus.” Sachi summarized.

The Inuzuka alphas seemed pensive for a moment before Ashi nodded “Yeah, sounds about right.”

“Left out lazy, though.”

At her left, the Nara clansmen glanced at her. Sachi held their eyes, noting their black hair and small dark eyes; their slouched posture and the disinterested aura around them. Liars, the lot of them.

( _“In terms of intelligence, one should look out for the Nara.”_ Mother told her, pointing with a needle at the map. _“Their Shadow Style can trap moving organisms, while they use the unmoving objects to enhance their range.”_ then, sharply tapping the cloth, she added _“Don’t spark their interest, and if you do”_ her eyes were unforgiving and ruthless _“kill them.”_ )

Sachi quickly looked away.

They reached the grand Hashirama Trees, whose roots were the ground on which they stood. Serving as a natural barrier, their gargantuan size was able to create a wall and a tower a the same time. The Shodaime had been blessed with the power to bind nature to his will; where one would have used for destruction, Hashirama used to preserve and create life.

Sachi was reminded of the Mother Tree, although they were completely different species. Where the Mother Tree was similar to a dome, with thick branches ending in pointy needles and twisting roots that spanned miles in radius, the Hashirama Trees took to the skies. Sachi craned her neck to glimpse the canopies, finding it difficult to as the tree appeared as an endless pillar. Branches that fused with its neighbours’, creating bridges so wide that three oxen carts could pass and not brush against each other.

Ashii saluted the guards on duty, who gave her a nod of acknowledgement. They were busy, with fall hanging in the air and the fairs coming to the village. The entrance was at the very base of the tree, hollow as the Mother Tree was. Sachi felt a pang of familiarity once they passed the carved hole in the bark, people milling around, shinobi in uniform guiding the newcomers...

Climbing the wooden slope, they gained altitude. The Hashirama Trees lacked the dormitories, or the hanging bridges so typical of the Heart. Instead, there was a skeleton of wooden platforms, mostly for the civilians, criss-crossing the walls. Ninja didn’t bother, as they walked on the walls and slipped by the narrow windows, coming and going as they pleased.

“Careful there.” Haiiro commented, putting himself between her and the railings. “Those things are hella rotten.”

Sachi took the wolf’s advice, keeping near Ashi as they passed carts and people. All the way to the second level, Sachi swallowed down the vertigo. Before she had the security of her chakra, not quite honed as a ninja’s, but enough not to skid and drop to her death.

They exited the tree, feet once more on land despite having climbed quite a few hundred feet in height. Here, the oldest and most influential clans were located. The Hokage Tower was right at the end of the village, backed up by the Hokage Monument whose faces were shouldered by the same Hashirama Trees that protected the inner part of the settlement. Yet, those trees continued upwards, casting less shadow than on the lower level, but keeping the still glaring sun away.

“About the Nara…” Ashi began, “Did they teach you that?”

“Sometimes.” Sachi recalled Mother’s lessons, as House of Chitina she had all the travelers under her thumb. As her daughter, Sachi had been spared nothing. “But most were for the travelers, to know what to look out for and what to keep an eye on.”

Like ninja.

“Why the Nara, out of all clans?” Haiiro asked, his cold nose tickling her fingers.

“Competition.” she clarified. Ninja and Kanbayashi often sought the same while using identical methods; information was gold for both of them, fights were inevitable. “There’s also the Uchiha and the Hyuuga.”

Both alphas grimaced, not fond of those two either. Hyuuga, besides sentinels, were also trackers; meaning that they butted heads quite often. It didn’t help that the Hyuuga were one of the noble clans, and the Inuzuka one of the _lower_ clans.

“Did ya compete a lot with them?”

( “ _The best way to dispose of a Hyuuga is to paralyze their limbs._ ” Mother would share the memories of her youth, doing just that. “ _The Byakugan is vexing, but their techniques are menacing._ ” in the rare instances that Mother showed emotion, her smile was more frightening than torture episodes “ _Their eyes are useless when they cannot move._ ”)

“Their bloodline limits are dangerous.”

( “ _The Uchiha…_ ” Mother sighed out loud “ _They will destroy themselves. You won’t catch one unaware, but their trust is useful. Poison and pride._ ” Images of crimson eyes and flames appeared in their shared mindspace, the swelling corpse at her mother’s feet even more grotesque than the betrayal.)

“Annoying as well.” Haiiro snarked, gaining a reproachful tap on his snout. “Anyone else?”

They passed a clearing, the midday sun scorching even with the brief contact. Sachi saw a few police officers, holding onto Haiiro’s fur just in case. Everywhere she looked, Sachi recognized something she should be running away from. Mother had been… thorough with her education on wordly dangers. Her words echoing at the back of her mind, the phantom pain and fear of her voice enough to make her shiver in spite of the warm weather.

The second level had the Main Market, a giant plaza at the center of the elevated slope that held a prairifire tree. Sachi knew this because the shocking red flowers had been a favourite of Sumi’s, found also in Uzushio. Its size, much like the rest of the flora, was gigantic, but not quite as its fellow trees.

The Hashirama Trees had left a clearing for the prairifire to enjoy the sun, giving the shadow a rosy tint once you crossed below it. Sachi held her breath, more impressed than anything; the air around that tree was sweet, the fruit already ripe and ready for harvest.

Hashirama had gifted the prairifire to his bride, Uzumaki Mito.

( _“He was so struck by Mito-sama’s beauty that he couldn’t help but sprout that tree the moment she set foot in the village.”_ Sumi told her with a grin, sharing a few snaps of the memories from Mito-sama’s point of view. Hashirama’s blush, the stammer and how he tripped over the roots he had grown without his consent.

 _“Mito-sama’s and Hashirama-sama’s marriage had been one of convenience. Mito-sama embracing it as her duty towards her clan, willing to accept anything from her betrothed in exchange for the safety of her people. However,”_ and Sumi would always, always tickle her before he continued, laughing until both of them were breathless. _“Mito-sama upon seeing such display, said to one of her sisters_ ‘Spring came early just for me’ _.”)_

“The Yamanaka.” Sachi said in a whisper, the streets more crowded.

“Yamanaka?” Ashi said, confused “Why them?”

“Too alike.”

(Mother would always remind her of the Yamanaka, Sumi nodding in understanding. “ _The Yamanaka are a plague and should be eradicated._ ” Sachi would bow her head low, afraid of her mother in her fury “ _The reason why we have the mental barriers are because of them, and you should always remember this,_ ” and she would grab her by the chin, and lock eyes with her to make sure she understood. “ _your father died because of them._ ”)

Haiiro must have felt her chakra shift, because he pressed against her gently. “You’re talking about their techniques, right?”

“Their mind transfer jutsu,” Sachi said carefully, swallowing down the bile “is a bastardized version of the,” she waved her hands, not daring to say the name out loud “you know? But it’s wrong, because it doesn’t allow to share, only _take_.”

Chika-sama had been pressured by Sachi’s mother to put an end to the Yamanaka; after her husband’s death, the danger of being discovered had grown exponentially. The clan sided with Shinju, since they had lost many travelers to Yamanaka shinobi, and the others didn’t a copycat clan that could interfere with the Kanbayashi interests. She had been two when that happened, Sumi and Keiichi sneaking her in during the hearing after the funeral.

In the end, Chika-sama refused to go with it.

Mother nearly rioted, the clan following her rage.

“They use chakra to access the mind, a controlled burst that allows for a sweep of the psyche.” Sachi recalled her Mother’s ramblings, deciphering the Yamanaka’s secret to come up with countermeasures “This happens because of a joint effort of opening the first two gates, which is why they need a visible target to focus on instead of activating it at any time like the Hyuuga, and have unique hand seals to carefully control the chakra. They hijack the brainwaves, accessing the mindspace and memories.” Haiiro stiffened under her touch, wary of eavesdroppers but Sachi’s tone was private, only heard by Inuzuka ears.

“The temporal seals are very delicate,” it went without saying, Tsunade warning Ashi for any sudden changes in Sachi’s behaviour in case they went unstable “they need constant chakra, and any sudden spike can cause… a collapse.”

(Father had been brought by another Chitina member, unresponsive and dying. They tried everything to restore his temporal seals, and the mental barriers to bring him back; it was useless.

Nori, formerly of Isonash and married to Shinju of Chitina, died after a Yamanaka got too curious. Mother never forgave them, nor the Archive for allowing those monsters to remain alive.

Sachi remembered too.)

“So… you die if they try to do what you do?”

“Haiiro!”

“We both die.” she said simply, recalling the image of her father bleeding from his ears because of the damage. Mother had shown her what happened to the Yamanaka that did that to him, and she didn’t know whose fate was worse. “Our seals are only for us, and those that try to impose will remain trapped.”

Like any other Kanbayashi, Sachi had studied the seals that had been etched into her brain. Besides the typical design, they had implemented extra matrixes for protection. Any unwanted chakra link will cause a mirror effect; if the Yamanaka pushed, the Kanbayashi pushed back. Chakra bursts were dangerous even in the mildest forms, and when it was directed to the brain, even more so.

The end was always the same; death.

Ashi remained silent, Sachi following her through the stalls and streets. Sachi could see the tourist traps and the most expensive inns; the voices of the crowd, children running around, and the carts transporting the goods.They climbed paved hills, deeper into the entrails of the upper level, and finally getting to the ninja district.

Theoretically, Leaf was a ninja village, and every district was a ninja one. The majority of its population made of shinobi or related to them. Nevertheless, Leaf was also the largest hidden village, and with it came a lot of civilians.

Leaf lacked the eye-catching attractions of the cities, instead keeping their edge as a military force in the details. They passed Uchiha Patrols every four minutes, and Sachi caught glimpses of ninja everywhere.

High above their heads, or into the shadows, there wasn’t a corner in which they weren’t present. In the ninja district, where the unaffiliated shinobi lived and thrived, it was even more blatantly clear.

“Easy there.”

Here, the buildings lacked the warm and cozy aesthetic of neat wood and stone typical of Leaf. Instead, they were massive blocks of cement, haphazardly arranged but impressive nonetheless. They blended well in the shadows of the trees, a sort of loud quietness present in the streets.

You could hear the murmur of conversation, somewhere and nowhere at the same time. On the rooftops and the thick wires there was a blur of movement every so often. Flak jackets and regular issue navy clothes were the main trend, contrasting with the bright and colorful yukatas of the rich merchants from the Main Market.

And yet, you could also find brimming life inside the darkness.

“Ah, Ashi-sama.” said the clerk of an inconspicuous shop with no windows, no sign “Another mission?”

The man was old and scarred, of thick build and sporting the same quietness of a ninja. He barely looked at them, Haiiro barking a greeting but keeping close to her.

“Not us this time.”

He didn’t comment on how odd was for a widowed Clan Head to suddenly have a child with them, sporting said clan’s marks and obviously not from Fire Country. Sachi had no doubt that rumours got out already, inevitable when Inuzuka were so loud in their surprise and so intense in their curiosity. The clerk didn’t say anything, too deeply into conditioning to break from his façade.

“The young lady? I might have something for her.” his smile was honest, a small mercy when she was so uncomfortable.

“Thanks, Takeshi-san.”

Takeshi gave a half-hearted wave and went inside the room behind the counter. The shop wasn’t decorated or given any personality besides the row of dark clothing and different garbs and layers. There were a few mannequins, towards the end of the store, with belts, pouches and various garters for weapons.

When Haiiro said that they were going to make her pretty, she hadn’t realized they were gonna dress her up as a ninja.

“She can step to the dressing room!” he called from the back.

“Takeshi-san is one of the best tailors,” Ashi assured, directing her to a side room with a full sized mirror and a curtain for privacy. “come on, try some.”

Sachi was lost for a moment, Ashi drawing the curtain and leaving her relatively alone with the clothes hanging from the little hooks on the walls. The mirror reflected her form, and Sachi felt dizzy looking at it.

Because instead of white hair and smooth skin, she had dark hair and red fangs.

Tying up her anxieties, Sachi took the first item — a short sleeved shirt— and put it on. Tsunade had given her a long sleeved one and long pants before she left the hospital because she had come to Leaf without clothes and the uniform she had stolen was five sizes too big.

The short minute she spent discarding her previous shirt and trying the new one, she saw her scars. Tsunade had tried her best to heal her, but her body was testament of what she was and what had happened.

Sachi would have done anything to erase them.

The neck of the shirt was too broad, showing the little arms of the scars of her third and eighth gate. Sachi couldn’t stand looking at them, going for the other shirt. It was black and long necked, Sachi raising the collar just under her jaw to make sure nothing of that purple and red tissue was to be seen.

Given that this was a ninja shop, the pants were the same deep shades as the shirts. Sachi choose a pair of black fitted pants, covering as much as she could to hide what she had underneath.

It was silly, because it didn’t matter how many layers she put on herself, the scars wouldn’t go away. She tried anyway.

Stepping out, Haiiro laughed. “Whose funeral are you going to?”

As if they had a more brighter palette to choose from.

“You like the feel?”

It was smooth and respirable. The fabric stretched when she moved and it was padded on the knees and elbows. All in all, it was work clothing, meant to withstand rather than flatter. Sachi wanted just that, to blend in and be overlooked; being the center of attention would do her no good, at least not until the rumors died down.

“Yes.”

“Don’t you want something yellow?” Ashi asked, taking more of what Takeshi had brought over. “It’s your favourite color, right?”

“No.” she said briskly “I mean, I don’t want yellow. Black’s fine.”

The Kanbayashi colors were white, black, blue and gold. Depending in which branch of the clan you were in, you had a combination of two of them. Isonash had been black and gold, whereas Chitina had been white and gold. Their clothes were provided by the Asir Rera House, tailors by trade and experts in their field, since they needed a specific kind of knowledge to make garbs to withstand the biting cold of Snow.

There was no fur on her clothes, thin instead of thick and single layered instead of the customary ten. Of course, the fur cloaks or the heavy boots weren’t on display, and so she tried fingerless sandals. Out in the planes, it was difficult to recognize one another with the hoods on; that’s why the colors were important.

Now, Sachi picked black to blend with the darkness.

She had been also a trainee for the Archive, meaning she had to leave her usual crest behind and pick up all four colors to show her rank in the clan. Trainees and assistants to the Archive were on a different plane than the Houses, with no affiliation and neutral to avoid claims of favoritism.

But she wasn’t in the Heart anymore.

“The sleeves are a little long, let me measure you so—”

Takeshi approached her, Sachi immediately stepping back. She was wearing flowing sleeves, and if he touched her skin. Just a little bit of chakra. A tiny bit and her tattoos would pop up like blisters. She couldn’t let anyone touch her skin.

Ashi, picking up on her distress, said “That’s okay, Takeshi-san. I think she will grow into ‘em.”

The man nodded once and went to charge her. Sachi had ended up with black, navy and dark brown shirts, most long sleeved (fitted or loose) and same kind of pants. A dark hooded grey haori with red edges because Ashi said it fitted the clan’s colors; grey and red. Also, a pair of closed and open sandals, straps to fit the sleeves and two pairs of fingerless gloves.

More adequately dressed, they exited the store. It was hot outside, and wearing all black was already making her sweat, but with the danger of being discovered still fresh in her mind, she pushed through.

“Thank you, for the clothes.” Sachi said once they were in the streets, careful of those that watched them closely.

“No problem.” she chirped. The Hokage had paid her handsomely for her retrieval, and he had promised incentives if she found more information about her; or so she supposed. It was still nice though, to not leave her naked. “Clothes we got, what do we need next?”

Sachi thought about her room in the trainee’s dorms. “Stationery?”

They went towards the center, keeping still in the ninja district. Sachi had the slight suspicion that all ninja preferred their little alleys instead of the open avenues filled with civilians. The streets were narrow and barely circulated, most of them taking the high ground and jumping from branch to branch instead of walking like a normal person.

How lucky they were to have kind trees, Sachi bitterly thought. Grandfather and Sumi had made her learn how to use the bow, having to climb the needle trees to get a good view. She could still remember being stabbed several times and having to stand in her position with the bow drawn back for hours until she managed to bring down a reindeer. To just jump and run made her instinctively flinch, only imagining what kind of damage she would get if she tried to do just that in the Needle Forest.

However, the Hashirama trees, just as grand as he had been, were also gentle. Sachi could sense it better, now that she wasn’t running like a madwoman; the chakra was in the trees, and whereas all living creatures had some sort of chakra embedded into them, it felt as if they were _human_.

Hashirama had grown them himself, forgoing time and fueling the seeds with his own life force. That’s why the trees had outlasted their creator, and why they would do so with everyone else.

Leaf was a special village, not in the sense that it was a hidden one, but one that had been created in a fortnight. Sumi would show her bits and pieces of that process, Hashirama never stopping chiseling his beloved village right up until the end. He would build foundations in minutes, nudging wood to expand and twist just like he wanted them too.

The Main Market was a clear example of that. All the buildings were made out of wood, but not chopped or cut down like one might think. No, those buildings were rooted and alive, a shell of tree with no stray branches or leaves.

And yet, there was care and thought in every and each one of them. No house was the same, and no other was greater than the other. Hashirama had clear views on equality and equity, a man too optimistic for his time that somehow had managed to see his dream come true.

Hashirama was long dead though, and that too, showed.

The upper level of Leaf was what Hashirama had envisioned for every citizen of his village; but they were simply too many.

War and desperation had brought many to Leaf’s doorstep, and without Hashirama to will the village to grow, they had adapted however they could. That was Leaf’s lower level, and although they weren’t inherently worse, it was concepted differently.

They passed by the edge, Sachi glimpsing some of the layout from above. The streets weren’t organized like the upper level, into a semicircle with a clear way to the Hokage Tower and blooming outwards with round and curving paved roads that had some instinctive direction. They were mostly dirt roads, only the main ones paved because of the carts, and completely chaotical.

“Sightseeing?”

“To not get lost.” Sachi answered Haiiro.

They wound up in another tiny street, with yet another indistinctive shop. Little did she know, that it would soon be her favourite.

Sachi recognized the scent before anything else. The glue used to stick the paper to the knobs of the scroll comforting her. The smell of unused books, inks and brushes bringing her memories of the supply storage of the Library.

Similarly to storage, the shop was crowded and disorganized at first glance. Sachi strayed immediately to the left, slipping by a narrow path between shelves and baskets, taking in every scroll and paper she could find.

“Sachi?” Ashi asked, peaking through the gapes while she continued to touch and feel. “You good?”

“Yes!”

The paper was good, not quite like the one they had but good enough. To make good ink seals you needed a good medium. Paper was perfect for it, soaking the pigment and allowing to ebb the matrixes and set the flow for the chakra. Depending on what you needed them for, the paper made all the difference.

Sachi had spent her entire life haunting the supply storages underneath the Library, testing and experimenting on every kind they had. Nothing but the Needle Tree grew in Snow, but they didn’t need anything else when they had the whole world at their disposal.

In that little store of Fire Country, Sachi found her heaven.

“Can I help you with something?” a voice said.

The young Archive had already filled her arms with everything she could carry to the counter. There was a teenage boy at the other end, frowning at the haul she had chosen while grinning.

“... you want everything?”

There were a dozen scrolls, from medium to slightly large. Sealing sheet paper of various dimensions, a set of brushes and premade ink, vegetable and animal alike. Twenty or so notebooks, even more empty flat books, a handful of pens, pencils and erasers.

If she could get her way, Sachi would siege the entire shop for herself. But, because she had to stay low, she said yes and let Ashi pay.

“I hope you use all of this.” she said, giving her the bags to carry. “Sealing stuff is expensive.”

The bad thing about the rest of the world was that it worked with money, rather than how useful you were. In the Kanbayashi, your credit covered more or less depending on what you gave to the clan.

Sachi had been a trainee, and so she had free access to whatever her heart desired. She had abused that system all she could, Michiko often reprimanding her for being greedy or a hoarder. Chika-sama let it happen as long as Sachi shared with the Archive everything she came up with, a small price to pay considering the materials.

“I will.”

With her mood lifted, they finished their shopping trip shortly after. Ashi had bought a few groceries, mainly meat, and called it a day.

To get to the lower level this time they took the lift. Ashi saluted two sturdy men at the entrance, Akimichi, Haiiro told her, and they let them step onto the platform. The lift was rudimentary, a rectangular stone that had weels on the sides connecting with the vertical railings. The Akimichi manned the chains, either pulling or letting down the platform with their incredible strength and the marvelous help of polleys.

The way back to the Inuzuka Compound miffs her mood just a little. She, for the love of the gods, cannot get used to seeing so many wolves gathered in one place. A matter of time, she reminds herself, but she has eight years of prickly encounters to get over first.

They hear a bark on the other side of the street, Ashi and Haiiro perking up instantly and the former saying “I’ll check the clinic, you go back.” she gave the grocery bags to Sachi and vanished quickly into the white building.

“What happened?” she asks the wolf, confused.

“The clinic, probably.” he says, nodding to the guards and entering the compound. “This time of year we have a lot of people come in.”

“... the clinic?” she knew that Ashi had medical knowledge, obvious on how she treated her back when they first met. But it was strange to find a lonesome clinic so far away from the hospital in the upper level.

“Veterinary clinic, for animals.”

“Oh.” that was new. “The Inuzuka treats animals?”

“Yep, it’s kinda necessary when regular medics don’t know how to treat us.” meaning the wolves. The clan greeted them with howls, and this time Sachi didn’t flinch. “You surprised?”

“I thought you were a ninja clan.”

“That we are, yes, but we can’t just kill people, pup.” Sachi opened the sliding door the best she could with all the bags, letting Haiiro enter while he continued “Back in the day when civilians weren’t here, we had to take care of things. Animals we know of, so... the clinic.”

It made sense, in a way. The Kanbayashi didn’t have civilians and every role was fulfilled by the clan. Chitina were travelers, Asir Rera tailors, Ekashiba protectors, Resunotek teachers, Isonash hunters… They hadn’t needed a veterinary clinic, since the only animals they came in contact with where to either kill or eat.

“Is that why Ashi was called? Because she’s a veterinary doctor?”

Haiiro barked a laugh “Make sure you call her that when she comes in. Ashi went because she knows how to deal with the difficult cases. Horses, probably.”

“Horses?”

“Yep. You know ‘bout those? Big, kinda petty?”

There weren’t horses in Snow, but she had seen the animals he spoke of in the shared memories of her mother and Sumi, sometimes Grandfather. “Yes. I ate one, the meat is salty.”

Haiiro made a strangled sound, asking “You eat horses?”

“Grandfather brought the meat once. Why? Isn’t what you do once they grow old?”

Grandfather had shown her how those beasts were put to work. Drawing carts, helping the farmers lay the seeds and then harvesting them… they even used them for traveling, Sumi racing them in his journeys. When they got injured or they were too old, their meat was butchered and served.

Such was the way of life.

“Well, people normally see ‘em more than just meat. Horses are good for many things, but they bring them here so we can treat ‘em and care for ‘em. Not eat ‘em.”

“So they can work more?”

“No, pup,” and he said the next words gently, so she could understand “because they love them.”

Love an animal?

“Most of our clients are farmers yes, but some are regular people that have an animal companion. And, just like any other being, they get sick, or they need a checkup, and our job is to help ‘em with that.”

“Animal companion… like you and Ashi?”

Haiiro tilted his head, curious. “Not quite. Ashi and I are equals, partners… do you know what a pet is?”

Should she?

“No.”

“A pet is, how to say it, like a child that’s never gonna grow up.” they went to her room, Sachi taking out the clothes and paper and setting it onto her bed. “You feed ‘em, care for ‘em, love ‘em; and they love you back, sometimes. That’s a pet.”

Sachi was missing something. The language of the Sage was still a work in progress, picking up whatever she could from those around her until she got her hands on a book to learn it. The name ‘pet’ didn’t sound right to her, unknown and strange in concept.

Haiiro wasn’t judging her lack of knowledge, despite being a Kanbayashi. “Why would they… have a pet? If it’s like a child, but will never grow up or serve a purpose…. then why have it in the first place?”

He hummed. “It depends on the person, I believe, but the reason’s the same.” he nudged her hands with his nose, Sachi letting her gloves hand over his fur carefully. “Loneliness.”

Loneliness.

Sachi understood that very well.

“You didn’t have a pet? Not even a cat?”

“What’s a cat?”

Haiiro’s fur stood on end. “... you don’t know what a cat is?” she waited for him to go on, clearly lost. “Like a loaf of bread in size, furry, big ears and long tail. Little pieces of shit, and spiteful?”

“I don’t think so? We had wolves, and lynx, foxes, mink… is one of those?”

“Oh pup,” he sounded mournful, “where have you been?”

.

“You don’t know what a cat is?”

Sachi groaned. Haiiro had been laughing at her all afternoon, crying himself out of mirth until Ashi came back from the clinic. Thankfully, she hadn’t started cackling once Haiiro explained his newfound joy.

“Haiiro didn’t tell me!”

“Like, for real?”

“Ashi!”

“Okay, okay.” she sat down in front of her desk, saying “A cat’s a feline, do you know what that means?”

“Yes, it’s part of the mammals branch.” somehow, that didn’t seem like the right answer by Ashi’s dumbfounded expression. “Lynx, tigers, lions…”

“You know what a tiger is and not a cat?”

“There aren’t cats where I came from.” she defended herself. Not even mice crossed the threshold of the Heart, and certainly not as companions. “Are they that important?”

“Cats are cats. Sorry, Sachi, I know you’re upset but bear with me.” and after a moment of suspense, she asked “Do you know what a dog is?”

Ashi was dead serious but Sachi failed to recognize that term. Haiiro was expectantly looking at her, and for a moment, Sachi believed herself to be deeply stupid.

“... what’s a dog?”

Haiiro sputtered, choking on his tongue before erupting in howls of laughter. Ashi, who had been composed until then, started laughing as well.

What was going on?

“What’s so funny?” a voice asked behind her. Turning around, Tsume and Kuromaru had entered Ashi’s office, a frown on their faces. “Nee-chan?”

Ashi was doubled over her desk, shaking uncontrollably and concerning Sachi.

“Oi, what happened?”

“I don’t know!” she answered truthfully. “I asked them something and they are like this!”

“What did you ask ‘em?”

“What’s a dog?”

Tsume froze, blinking slowly before snarling. “Are you messing with me?”

Haiiro and Ashi were too busy hacking up their lungs to help her against Tsume, so she bowed her head and said “I don’t know what a dog is.”

And then, Tsume started laughing too.

Sachi felt her blood boil, flustered at the situation. Why was it so funny? Why were they laughing at her? Why didn’t she know what a damned dog was?

Ashi, getting her bearings, said “Oh, Sachi… sorry, darlin’, you took us by surprise. What do you think Haiiro, or Kuromaru, are?”

“They’re wolves.”

She shook her head. “They’re dogs, darlin’. Dogs.”

“That’s not true.” she argued. “They’re wolves.”

“Nu-uh, pup, we’re dogs through and through.”

“You travel in packs, have canine features, carnivore, fur covered… that’s a wolf.”

Haiiro came to her, snickering. “We’re like cousins, but we aren’t wolves.”

“What’s the difference? Between a dog and a wolf?”

The only canine she knew were wolves. Every teacher, and every Kanbayashi would insist on not drawing near one of those. Lynx one could manage, solitary predators that only attacked when desperate. Wolves, packs so large that covered the plains, intelligent enough to have hunting strategies, and vicious to carry them out, were a threat.

When she looked at Haiiro, who was too alike to the death harbingers, where did she draw a line?

“Fuck me!” Tsume barked, grinning “And here I thought you were a smart one.” she slapped a hand on her back, almost causing her to topple down because of the force. “It doesn’t matter, the Inuzuka have dogs and the Hatake have wolves. You only need to know that ours are better.”

Tsume and Kuromaru left, laughing still down the hall while Sachi went over that strange happening. “There’s another clan that has wolves?”

Ashi sobered quickly after that. “Yes, or had been. The clan didn’t survive the war.”

“And they had wolves?”

“Wolf summons, yes.”

And she left it at that.

Haiiro didn’t come up with a snarky remark, or a joke. It must have been sensitive subject, Sachi reading the grief in the air before keeping it for later thought. Now, she had more prying matters. “Do you have a library?”

“What for?”

Why would you need a library?

“I wanna learn. Haiiro said you know veterinary medicine, you must have information about it.”

One would believe that the Inuzuka, violent and brash, would spend their time playing around and filing their claws. Partially true, they had much more. Ashi, as alpha, had used the cover of their reputation to hide the history of her clan.

It was very easy to overlook the fact that the Inuzuka were centuries old too, not quite ancient like the Hyuuga or Uchiha, but old all the same. Haiiro hadn’t been lying that their ways with medical jutsus were a loud secret, raw and instinctual, immensely useful in emergencies.

“Are you interested in medicine?”

“I want to know.” simple and straightforward, there was another motive than to learn and to know. Sachi might look like an Inuzuka, but she was still a Kanbayashi. “I don’t want people to laugh at me because I don’t know.”

“Sorry there, darlin’.” Ashi smiled at her, sheepish. “We do have a library, we don’t really show it to anyone.”

The girl frowned deeply, just about to say that it didn’t make sense until Haiiro chipped in.

“Sachi is our pup, she can go if she wants.” the dog intervened before Ashi said anything more. “Come on, pup, I’ll show ya.”

Sachi left with the him, Haiiro nodding to Ashi before leaving and guiding her through the hallways. The Inuzuka library was at the very end of the house, a small, dusty room with a few shelves filled with thick books and a small table for study. It was almost miserably small, though Sachi knew better than to judge a source of knowledge.

She picked the first row gingerly, setting it on the table and opening the first book.

Before she began to study, she said. “Ashi thinks I want to spy on you.” that’s why he was with her, keeping an eye on her so he could report it later.

Haiiro settled his head on her lap, lazy and happy. “Isn’t it what we all do?”

It didn’t matter. Sachi was trapped until she found a way out, and that started with gathering knowledge.

(It would be a long time until she found a way out.)


	6. Thirst for knowledge

He dropped the body scrolls onto his sensei’s desk. The mission took out three months out of his life, staining his sword and his hands even more.

_For the glory of Leaf, and the life of your comrades._

Or so went the saying.

He had been sent to Water to survey those that were behind Uzushio’s fall. It wasn’t a mission but a favour to Tsunade, one that he took in order to save her more grief or the start of an early war.

The Hokage nodded at him, saying. “Thank you, Orochimaru.” and, as he liked to say next, “Welcome back.”

“Glad to be back.” it sounded monotone, rehearsed as it was. “Here is the report.”

He only wished to go back to his lab, ready the samples he had collected and see if any of the long term plaques had any changes since his leave. There was no one waiting for him in his mother’s house, only the wild snakes, and his experiments.

“That was a long mission, you should rest.”

He bowed his head, respectful and polite, just like he had been conditioned to be in front of the hat. It was good to display himself as a dog with a short leash, if only for the peace of mind of the guards above in the ceiling.

Unease and distress was the usual response to his presence, the clerics in his sensei’s office stiff and wide eyed. It didn’t matter how many missions he took, or how much he did for anyone but himself, they will fear him.

Orochimaru had long forgotten what warmth was.

Before he left, his sensei said “Tsunade should be on a break now.”

She probably wasn’t. Exhausted and not in the mood to humor his nosy sensei, he bowed his head again, and left.

And yet, something in the air had changed. It wasn’t his arrival, because he had saved enough chakra for a body flicker instead of parading himself through the village. A new presence, the hushed whispers of gossip and intrigue.

Orochimaru, finding it distasteful, turned his nose and went to his lab. It didn’t concern him, and Tsunade would tell him once they met; he had better things to do.

(That was Orochimaru’s first mistake.)

.

The Hokage stood in his office, overlooking the village and smoking his pipe. A perfect afternoon, devoid of any pressing matters or overdue paperwork.

Except the Uchiha report on his desk.

And Inuzuka Ashi and Inuzuka Sachi in front of it.

The Hokage had received a very interesting folder, stating that a certain ‘ _Inuzuka child_ ’ had ‘ _injured a comrade_ ’ and ‘ _slandered a Hyuuga clansmen with prejudice_ ’ and ‘ _accused of Clan Theft_ ’.

Turning around, he saw that the injury part was somewhat true; with Sachi bruised from neck down and with a busted lip. She walked with a slight limp, although from her shameless smile she was not bothered by it.

Ashi, in spite of her calm chiseled façade, was two seconds away from strangling Sachi. Haiiro was standing between them, appearing rather tired while acting as a buffer.

Normally, he would be miffed about dealing with court cases. They took too much time to process and it often involved a great deal of drama, especially when it came to big clans. Nearly always ending in neither part benefiting from the ordeal except fulfilled pettiness.

Sachi was involved this time though.

“What happened?”

He had been expecting the girl to grace his office one day, inevitable considering her problems with authority and her complicated past. As it stood, Sachi had went almost three months without causing an uproar, outing herself as a Kanbayashi, or prompting the Inuzuka to riot against the world.

Ashi looks at Sachi, the kind of motherly glance that promised a great deal of retribution if it wasn’t heeded. “Tell the Hokage what happened, Sachi.” her tone was glacial, the girl shrinking a tiny bit.

Impressive. It reminded him of his wife scolding their children.

“He called me… a _stupid Inuzuka_.” Sachi said, baring her teeth in the same animalistic fashion as an angry Inuzuka did.

Quite the fast learner.

“I see.” he said, taking a drag of his pipe and letting it rest in his lungs before exhaling back. “It must have been upsetting to you, as no one deserves to be insulted, but I fail to see how… excuses you being involved in a fist fight.”

Or so the report claimed.

“Hyuuga Tokuma,” she snarled the name. “insulted me first. I was going to buy groceries for lunch when he went after me, I didn’t even notice him before he called me that!” and then. “I get that the Hyuuga hate the Inuzuka, and that fighting people it’s wrong when you live in the same village, but he deserved it— ”

Ashi, recognizing the killer intent emanating from her, slapped her up the head lightly. Sachi stopped talking, her chakra settling around her.

Oh?

“Tell the Hokage what _you_ said to _him_.”

Sachi hesitated, her previous bravado interrupted by the glare of her alpha. “Um… I told him that… the Hyuuga family tree is round as a wreath. A-and… that they have a stick so far up their ass that I could see it... from the back of his mouth.”

 _That_ was the slander part.

Ashi took a deep breath to steel herself. Honestly, he had heard worse, much worse when it came to Inuzuka and their colorful vocabulary for curses. Sachi, apparently, had picked up much more than regular body language.

“You have rather… strong opinions of the Hyuuga clan, Sachi-kun.”

Sachi opened her mouth, quickly closing it down again. Ashi was using all the hard earned patience of her career to not strike her down, Hiruzen objectively proud for it.

“I might have… exaggerated. But! he started it, Hokage-sama.”

“He might have. I have to ask, why does it bother you that much to retaliate? Not everyone will be kind to you.”

“The Hyuuga hate the Inuzuka.” she repeated. “They think it’s okay for them to insult me, an Inuzuka, _because_ I’m an Inuzuka! He had no way of knowing how smart I am or not, not that it would have made it okay, but he said it because he saw my cheeks and decided it was acceptable!” a beat later, she added “And I’m not _stupid_.”

Such was the problem.

He is… surprised to see how eagerly Sachi has integrated herself in the Inuzuka clan, growing as protective of them as they were of her. The rivalry between the Hyuuga and Inuzuka was well documented, with police reports and misconduct subpoenas. They were competitors as they were rivals; both specialized in tracking, their clan’s rules also clashing against each other.

Where Hyuugas were calm, Inuzukas were impulsive; Hyuugas strict of mind and Inuzuka liberal of spirit. Yet, Ashi was in charge of all her clan, independently of the family, and they followed her lead like loyal dogs. Whereas Hyuugas were subjugated to one branch of their clan, and their freedom kept close to the main house best interest.

Sachi was an observant child, but Hiruzen hadn’t expected her to embrace that kind of Inuzuka traits willingly.

“I assume those comments instigated a reaction.” he pointedly counted the bruises on the skin she was showing. She was embarrassed, gingerly hiding the mark on the side of her neck.

“He threw her ‘round like a ragdoll, Hokage-sama.” Haiiro spoke, his gravely voice neutral. “Used the Gentle Fist too, for good measure.”

 _Ouch_.

Gentle Fist was a highly painful technique, when not deadly, targeting the chakra points and constricting them. That caused the tenketsu to block the chakra flow to whatever part they regulated, activating the chakra refill reflex of the gates and overproducing chakra that would widen the pathways and render them useless until the blockage was cleared. A fully trained ninja would be forced to stop, either by the pain or the chakra impediment, and it could cause knots that were excruciating to free.

For Sachi, whose chakra pathways were virtually nonexistent, it must have been a special kind of hell.

Still, Hyuuga Tokuma, an Academy student, should know better than to use it for meaningless fights.

“Come on, tell him.”

“... I might have told him… something else.” Sachi slowly continued “He kinda snapped when I, um, asked him to tell me what color my eyes were.”

He took a long drag of his pipe, gathering his thoughts and coming with no explanation as to why, out of all comments, Sachi would ask that. “Why?” he relented.

“Because Hyuugas are colorblind,” she stated “so he couldn’t answer. And I might have… laughed. A little… and he kinda punched me a few times? I got him too, by the way—”

“Colorblind?” he asked, lost.

It was ridiculous to believe that a dojutsu clan, centered around the power of the eyes and one’s eyesight could be… incapable of seeing color. Hyuugas were sentinels, sent to every watchtower because of their clan’s bloodline limit that allowed them to see to great lengths and clear details. When activated, they were able to have almost full vision, around _and_ through objects.

Colorblindess?

Impossible.

“Their byakugan doesn’t let them see color.” Sachi said easily. “The byakugan, at its core, is an open retina. They do not have irises or pupils, receiving as much light as possible.” she explained in a monotone voice, deeply serious. “They have adapted by coating the retina with a thick layer of light receptors, leaving color receptors aside. They have extra chakra pathways around their eyes, that feeds their dojutsu and gives them the autonomy to use their chakra to judge their surroundings and allow for a full spectrum of vision, exceptuating the spot where their optical nerve is. ”

“So, because the Hyuuga only see in greyscale, he couldn’t answer me and he got really angry.” she finished.

Hiruzen snuffed out his headache pipe, deciding that he needed all his mental strength to get through the day. Or survive Sachi.

“How do you know this, Sachi-kun?”

It was a redundant question. Sachi and knowledge were synonymous, as it was trouble. The girl, far from perceiving the wrongness of it, said. “It’s common knowledge.” Ashi, wiser in the ways of ninja related problems, slapped her again. “I don’t know why he’s suing me for this! He insulted me first, he attacked me first, and used his byakugan and clan technique against me!”

“Hyuuga Tokuma was in the wrong for insulting you, true, and to having used clan techniques against a comrade. Regardless of age or position or status, it’s a grave offense.”

Before Sachi got too triumphant, he continued “So it’s Clan Theft.”

The mention of it curled Haiiro’s fur and deepened the scowl on Ashi’s face, but Sachi only frowned in confusion. “What’s that?”

“Clan Theft is a protocol established by the Shodaime Hokage, implemented in all hidden villages.” he began, catching her attention. “It serves the purpose of guarding clan intellectual property, from clan techniques and bloodline limits, to history or customs. Aiming to preserve and maintain it a secret for those not belonging to said clan.”

“The Hyuuga and Uchiha are famous clans, their dojutsu known across the Continent and the Islands. They’re powerful, yes, but also targets. Their eyes are sought for blackmail and organ harvesting purposes.” Sachi blanched slightly. “As you understand, it’s in their best interest to keep anything related to their abilities a secret, even among allies.”

“Clan Theft includes a large variety of offenses, from jokes like yours, to murder. For that, the punishment for such things are either a Yamanaka mental swipe or execution.”

Sachi didn’t have anymore comments.

“After explaining this, you understand why someone making witty remarks about what they consider a secret, the inner workings of the byakugan no less, can be… distressing.”

Realization hit her, as she remained silent. Sachi knew a lot, but lacked what _they_ considered common knowledge.

Ashi, surprisingly, had managed to break her in her clan and keep her muzzled. So far, the only remarkable reports were of Admin that noted down when she used the lifts or Ashi’s notes on her behavior. She had kept a low profile, not engaging with any other clans or ninja staff unless necessary. A _good girl_ , if he were to borrow Ashi’s comments.

Clan Theft… was quite the strong start.

“How have the Hyuuga reacted?”

“They have sent us the lawsuit, but they’re open to negotiation.” she said, not hiding her bitterness. Mature or not, Ashi had one or two things against Hyuugas. “They’re more scared that I or one of us have told her about the byakugan, saying that they want to check with a Yamanaka.”

Sachi cringed, the mention of that particular clan inciting a flare of chakra. “They can’t do that!”

“They can, and it’s their right to do so.” Ashi replied.

“But..!” she argued. “It was just a joke. He insulted me first! Hit me, used his supposedly _secret_ techniques on me and _I_ get sued for Clan Theft?”

“Yes.” Ashi said, absolute. “One lesser wrong doesn’t justify a bigger one, Sachi. You tried to be funny, and you failed, and now we gotta deal with it.”

“I was defending myself!” she muttered, but otherwise didn’t fight it.

“Will they listen?”

“I… will try my best, Hokage-sama. Hiroto-sama and I aren’t in the best of terms, but he will at least listen before he decides to continue with this or not.” Ashi said honestly, although unsure. “He’s specially sensitive about their bloodline limit, I can only guess that he is not happy.”

An understatement.

Hyuuga Hiroto, current Clan Head of the Hyuuga clan had the record of executions for Clan Theft; most of them applied to their side branch. The Hokage understood Ashi’s dilemma. A Yamanaka mental swipe, when utterly uncomfortable, would clear for suspicion that Inuzuka didn’t have any information about the byakugan.

 _However_.

Ashi did have delicate information about the Kanbayashi and Archive, whereas Sachi was both of those.

“Did you use the Archive, Sachi-kun?”

“No!” she protested. “I was taught! I haven’t used the Archive, or my own bloodline limit! Even my seals… I kept my side of the deal, and I can show it to you! That Tokuma went after me, and called me something completely untrue, I can show it to you and prove it.”

“No.” The Hokage and Ashi said.

“Sachi-kun, you cannot use your bloodline limit to prove nothing.” Sachi was ready to argue, but he continued. “Or will you risk your position as Inuzuka just so you can have the last word?”

Ashi, instead of hitting her, puts a hand on her shoulder. Sachi welcomes the touch and stays defeated.

She’s working miracles on that girl.

“It’s unfortunate that you’ve found yourself in this situation, Ashi-sama.”

“I’ve dealt with Hiroto-sama before.” she said, shrugging. “We have a few loose ends between us. I’ll only need to explain how this one here,” she shook her gently “knew that they were colorblind.”

Hiruzen was about to wish her luck with that, Sachi quipping in. “You could tell him that’s obvious.” before she struck her again, she added. “I mean, why would they dress in plain colors? All greys, white and black… only a few use brown, which doesn’t make sense when they have _so_ much history. Also, they don’t practice medicine. Their byakugan is useful, seeing through objects and all, but why aren’t they surgeons? Or field medics? They only map out chakra systems, because they can’t differentiate between blood and mud. What about night guarding duty? I haven’t seen one Hyuuga on the streets after the sun goes down! It all points out that they need light instead of color, which means they’re colorblind and, ughm—”

“Okay, darlin’, that’s enough rambling.” Ashi said, covering her mouth. “Sorry ‘bout that, she gets… excited sometimes.”

Sachi’s switch of moods was neckbreaking. He dismissed Ashi’s apology, as he was interested in hearing her out. “Did they teach you that too, Sachi-kun?”

“You only need to pay attention.” she said over her guardian’s fingers. “They’re ninja but aren’t as sneaky as they think they are.”

The Hokage was concerned about that comment.

He wondered, sometimes, just how Sachi saw the world, or how much, for that matter. He had had his suspicions, regarding Hyuugas and their byakugan, but not quite reaching the conclusion that only took Sachi a few months to achieve.

“I see.” he said, deciding to cut it short before Sachi came up with yet another problem. “Anything else you would want to discuss?”

When the report appeared on his desk, ink still fresh from the Uchiha officer, he sent a messenger to fetch them both. He decided to involve himself not only to make sure what kind of trouble their little migraine had gotten herself into, but also to see how Ashi dealt with the situation.

“Yes!” Sachi said, getting away from the Ashi that warned her to not continue speaking. “I want to go to the Academy.”

Oh dear.

“How come?” he asks, avoiding Sachi talking over him. “I remember you being quite certain that you would never become a ninja.”

“It’s because I don’t want to,” she smiled, mischievous. “but I have to blend in, right? I’m an Inuzuka, and I need to at least act the part. I’m already weird for not having a dog with me... not going to the Academy is even weirder.”

The Hokage didn’t buy it, but he let her expose her case.

“I know you don’t trust me,” she didn’t, either, though she didn’t say “and I can’t stay with Ashi and Haiiro forever. I could get into the Guilds, but it’ll be suspicious since no Inuzuka ever attends them. The Academy is the best option to build a life for myself, if I’m here to stay.” Sachi, like a merchant, did her best to sell her excuses, saying “No one questions a Nara on how smart they are, but they do if you’re an Inuzuka; at least, they will stop looking at me weird. It’s not like I want to become a ninja, but graduating doesn’t force me to take that path.”

The Hokage nodded politely, feeling merciful enough to warn her that “The Academy is not based in as much theory as is in practice. Physical endurance and prowess play a major role in graduating, and ninja arts are essential. Pardon me, but your health…”

“I’m not weak.” Sachi hissed. “I know my body is… not good, but I’ll make it work.”

Ah, to be so young and naive. It was refreshing to see Sachi blossom in such a courageous young lady. A pity, knowing that she will be crushed under the Academy’s requirements.

He had seen healthier and more promising students fail miserably.

The Hokage didn’t tell her that, letting her believe she was playing him with her words.

“It’s also mutually beneficial, you see.” and there it was, that eery glow behind her irises. “I’ll be bound to the village if I graduate, wouldn’t I?”

Now, _that_ gave him pause.

Graduating from the Academy had a ceremony in which the students took a vow to the village, swearing to be loyal and protect the village as much as the people inside of it. The Will of Fire, often overlooked, it was a promise of faithfulness.

Had Sachi not been a Kanbayashi, he would have dismissed that claim. But because she _was_ , he considered it.

A loyal Sachi.

The Archive of the Kanbayashi, serving Leaf… it did pose a compelling picture.

And Sachi knew it too. By the look on Ashi’s face, Sachi’s decision was not one that she approved of.

“I do not have the power to restrict entrance to the Academy, Sachi-kun.” he answered her, mimicking Haiiro’s bening expression. “That is for the parents or guardians to decide.”

Sachi turns to said guardian, her eyes glowing and smiling widely, almost begging “Can I—?”

“Wait outside.” Ashi says flatly. “Haiiro, stay with her.”

The girl deflates, shoulders slumping down. There’s no exclamation of outrage, or mumbled curses, though. She turns, and accompanied by the dog, she leaves the office without even so much as a bow to the Hokage.

Ashi has her whipped.

Once the door is closed, Ashi lets out a sigh. “I apologize, Hokage-sama.”

“Don’t, Ashi-sama.” he brushes off her appeasing words. “Sachi-kun is a difficult child, I understand, it’s not your position to apologize in her stead.”

“I know, Hokage-sama. It’s turned into a mindless action, by now.”

“Have you been apologizing much?”

She shakes her head. “She doesn’t do it on purpose, she sometimes… slips, I think it’s the word? She’s missing basic ninja etiquette, how to greet ranks, speak to superiors… she’s getting there, but it does raise eyebrows.”

“I can only imagine. What is your opinion of her request?”

“The Academy? Forgive me, Hokage-sama, but don’t listen to Sachi.” she says, not unkindly. “She wants to get inside the ninja library, and she has come up with that speech to convince me.”

It sounded like Sachi.

He had learned very early into meeting the little girl that what she said was completely different from what she meant. Doubletalk came naturally to her, a Kanbayashi trait or a sharpened skill, he wasn’t sure. He only paid the necessary attention to follow the conversation but believe none of it.

The Hokage already did this on a daily basis, Sachi occupying the same place as overly enthusiastic merchants or traders. Good with words, bad with compromise.

“She goes to great lengths for knowledge.”

“Oh, yes.” she agrees. “I’ve run out of things to teach her, and I don’t think the village will offer her much more.”

There was worry in her words.

“How so?”

The Inuzuka wasn’t squirming under his inquiries or his gaze, but she was tense. “Sachi… likes to learn. At first I thought she was searching for, maybe clan secrets? Precious intel? But… she just takes _everything_.” she rubs her temples, smoothing her wrinkles. “She’s down two libraries, our own and the civilian one, read every book there was, and she wants _more_. I’ve had to send her to the clinic to shadow our vets to keep her busy, our Elders teaching her how to train the dogs even though she’s kinda chary, even staying with the guards when she’s got nothing to do.”

A curious one, she was. Sachi did have the wonder of a child her age, yet her intellect was not. Kanbayashi seals or not, Sachi’s thirst for knowledge was enough to strain a veteran like Ashi. Ninjas were curious too, more out of necessity than for pleasure, but Sachi… was open about it. Ashi, used to hide her interest, was met with the challenge to keep Sachi’s enthusiasm hidden when the girl had no intention to.

A strange combination, one that was working well, if he was to judge.

“Do you believe her intention on entering the ninja library is something we should worry about?” he used the pronoun ‘we’ just in case, catching his drift.

“I’ll be honest, Hokage-sama. I don’t understand why Sachi seeks out information like she does, but I believe she… needs it.”

“Needs?”

“She… when she isn’t learning, or has something to work on, she… gets weird.” Ashi gathers her thoughts after a moment, saying “There are times when she… freezes. Sort of, fades out, and she stays so still it’s like she’s stopped breathing.”

(She will turn, and her eyes are burning. Something lurks beneath her skin, and her mind is filled with monsters— it’s chaos, entropy and disaster in the form of a girl.)

“Sachi gets lost in her mind, and that’s what worries me more.” she settles with. “I don’t fully grasp what those... seals do to her brain, but it makes her restless, forcing her to go out of her way to keep ‘em busy or else...”

Ashi doesn’t finish the sentence.

The Hokage understands.

“Sachi-kun does have high aptitude for academics, and we have no way of knowing what kind of education her clan had provided her prior to coming here. It’s safe to assume that ours is starkly different, to not say lacking.” a ninja needs to be a jack of all trades, knowing enough to get them by but not so much to get involved. They couldn’t invest in general knowledge when what they needed was how to learn how to kill and not die. “Ninja life is not what I would subject Sachi-kun to, but it will pose a challenge for her.”

Ashi gives a dry grin. “Challenge is a great word use instead of carnage. I accepted Sachi as my ward, and even when she’s difficult sometimes, I don’t want her too hurt.”

Wouldn’t you look at that, Wolf baring her fangs.

“It’s your ward, Ashi-sama, you’re free to use whichever words you desire and choose any option.” he amended easily, it wasn’t quite his problem how Ashi dealt with Sachi, as long as she didn’t make herself a problem. “Although… from what you have reported, Sachi-kun has quite the active mind.”

No one got away with getting too curious around ninjas.

It was only a matter of time when Sachi will prod too many times, ask too much or listen too little before someone takes action. The Hyuuga were almost there, and Sachi had only joked. Who knows what she will do when she’s motivated enough.

That’s what Ashi feared.

(And everyone else.)

“Sachi’s body isn’t one for more roughin’, Hokage-sama. Tsunade-hime has godly hands, but she can do so much before she breaks for good.”

“Well, she did say she wasn’t weak.”

And from Ashi’s tch of tongue, she disagreed. “Smart, not strong. Nara’s get away with it because of their clan techniques and friends, Sachi… not so much.”

There was a reason why the Ino-Shika-Cho trio was so stable. “They didn’t start that way.” he reminds her, just to see her sour reaction. “About the Hyuuga…”

“I’ll deal with it, Hokage-sama.” Ashi says, wearied “It _is_ true that they haven’t taken a night turn, or that they aren’t field medics.”

Ashi had been a medical aid in the Third War. Inuzuka’s were specialized in veterinary medicine, but they could heal humans too. In times of need, it was good to have an Inuzuka near, their rudimentary healing jutsus enough to at least keep you alive long enough for a field medic to finish the job. The Hokage owed his life to a few of them, long dead.

Hyuugas were only seen in hospitals, were they could take their time to copy down the individual chakra pathways instead of the constant action of the battlefield. Night time was mostly an Uchiha’s strength, previously believed that Hyuugas left them that role to take up daytime and cover all weakness and avoiding competition.

Who would have thought that they didn’t have such great intentions?

“Do you believe Hiroto-sama will accept that?” he asked, genuinely curious. The image of a weathered Clan Head, with deeply ingrained views on his clan and dojutsu that one would rather kill him than coax him into changing his mind, actually forgiving someone that he perceived as a threat.

Ashi smiled wolfishly. “Not my first time, Hokage-sama.” then, more seriously “I can’t keep Sachi as your run of the mill Inuzuka, not when she can’t have a dog or play dumb.”

Stereotypes, often wrong, were quite useful while hiding in plain sight. Sachi was seen as a peculiar Inuzuka, certainly adopted. Betting on Sachi being a lost prodigy that Ashi had decided to take in was more credible than trying to sell her as a bastard Inuzuka that Ashi, by Clan law, had to claim.

“Best of luck with that, Ashi-sama.” it wasn’t often that he took a side when clan tensions were on the table, but this time he was willing to indulge if it could prove… mutually beneficial. “This can be easily a misunderstanding, if thoroughly explained and both parties agree.”

Ashi bowed her head, partially in gratitude and in respect. “Thank you, Hokage-sama.”

“Don’t mention it.”

The woman turned her back, ready to leave before the Hokage called after her. “Not everyone would be able to do what you’re doing, Ashi-sama.” praise came only when it was deserved, as Tobirama used to say. “What Sachi-kun has… it can tempt the best of us.”

She had shared the information with them willingly, without censure or question of why it would be troublesome. If she had been taught how the byakugan works as part of her curriculum, who was to say that she didn’t know how the sharingan worked? Not only the noble clans, but the Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi… Aburame… even Sarutobi.

Or Senju.

Inuzukas weren’t academically inclined, but Ashi undoubtedly saw how convenient was to have information on everyone and everything. She could have easily lied to him, or omitted details in her reports. How simple would have been for her to use the byakugan’s newfound weakness against her life long rival.

But she didn’t.

It spoke more about her character than the conditioning she went through. The Hokage was more willing to believe in that than in Sachi, for how long that may last.

“She’s a good girl, Hokage-sama.”

He hopes she is, her life depends on it.

.

The walk home is done in silence. Sachi, given the opportunity, would talk your ear off on all topics imaginable. Ashi had found herself listening to an hour long rant about different methods for pickling food, and she didn’t even like pickled food.

This time, Sachi was silent.

She had gone into a fright when she saw her come back black and blue because she got into a fight with a Hyuuga. After treating her wounds and untying the chakra knots the best she could, she had listened to what happened from her mouth and realized that she was in much more than she had anticipated.

Sachi’s mind was… terrifying.

A good girl, happy to learn and to teach. The Hokage had given her a crash course on Kanbayashi lore, and how secretive they were about their memories and wisdom.

Sachi shared it anyway.

Perhaps she was a bad Kanbayashi, or they were wrong about the secretive part, but Sachi didn’t hide what she knew. Kind of a big problem, since walls had ears and floors had eyes. The Hyuuga incident was just the beginning of a long string of problems, if Ashi were to predict, unless she taught Sachi how to keep her tongue tied around strangers. And that was going to prove more difficult than teaching a puppy not to bite ankles.

(Haiiro teased her about being a mother, Ashi told him to fuck off.)

A quiet Sachi wasn’t a good Sachi.

Her head was strained in all directions, taking everything in, devouring every detail. Shikaku was the same, usually hidding his interest by cloudwatching or faking naps. Sachi wasn’t discreet in her curiosity, craning her neck and staring holes through whatever caught her attention.

Ashi hadn’t gotten used to it yet. Normally, such intense gazes meant either a proposition for a fight or fucking; and since Sachi was not allowed to do neither of it yet, Ashi endured it.

“Being one of us…” she began, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “it’s not gonna be easy, darlin’.”

“I know.” she said, treading her hand through Haiiro’s fur. “You’re the only one I know, though.”

Fucking dammit. She was not gonna turn soft.

“It’s not like I want to keep you caged, darlin’. But…” the scars haunted her too, deep and wicked. The Hyuuga had gotten her good, and her gates were a mess. The sight of her, gasping for air and burning up was something that she didn’t want to see again. “still fresh, you know?”

Of course she knew, she had to feel the pain.

She hummed, stepping closer to her when they reached the lifts. It was endearing, to see her reach out for her so easily, making something in her chest flutter when it was supposed to be dead. Ashi couldn’t say she liked it. “We’ll find you somethin’ to do, don’t worry.” she tried.

“Okay.” she said, devoid of her usual cheer.

The happier she had ever seen Sachi was when she was talking about books. She had to give it to her, Sachi read a lot, but she grew frustrated when they didn’t show the same interest.

Or worse, lonely.

Haiiro had brought it up, once or twice, how Sachi went more after ink on paper than human interaction. Inuzukas were highly sociable, a tiny bit suspicious of others at first before they got loose. That, paired with Sachi’s own wariness meant that she kept herself to the sidelines; not outside, but not in either.

What was she going to do with her?

With nothing in common with the others, which involved dogs, ninja stuff and spars, Sachi was all but doomed to be by herself, and that just won’t do.

The dogs howled their entrance, more so than usual. If Ashi had to guess, word spread out about Sachi’s fight.

“Oi, where’s my favourite feral pup?!” they had exactly one second before Tsume was running towards them, full speed, and snatching Sachi before Haiiro could stop her. “There you are!”

Ashi watched as Tsume threw a flailing Sachi in the air, encouraged by the gathering crowd. “Careful!” Haiiro barked.

“You sore, puppy?” Tsume asked, squishing Sachi’s cheek until her lips were fish-like “Heard you got your ass beat by a milky!”

Sachi tried getting away from Tsume’s rough love, failing and giving up as she got her by the scruff of her tunic and dragged her around.

“They’re gonna mess her up.” Haiiro whined, worried about her injuries.

“Let ‘em play.”

Other Inuzuka closed on her, ruffling her hair and shaking her, laughing and celebrating her first fight with a Hyuuga. Ashi tried discouraging seeking trouble with them, it was useless when _she_ had cracked milky skulls before.

She would be lying if it didn’t feel good.

Sachi couldn’t get away from the clan’s claws, as they teased and joked and embarrassed her in all the best ways. Everyone went through it at some point, Inuzuka’s preferring to yell it out than to whisper it behind one’s back. It was something that Ashi loved about her clan, free of the tension that larger clans had.

“Punched him? No way!”

Little by little, Sachi seemed more like an Inuzuka. She laughed with them, when they let her have enough breath for it. They were touchy feely, grabbing her and biting her like the fucking puppies they were. It didn’t matter how many missions they took, or how much time passed, they were still ankle biters.

“Next time, get ‘em in the eyes.” Ashi heard from Obu, applauded by the others. “I can give ya senbon if ya want—”

Tsume punched him in the ribs lightly, saying “You givin’ advice? You can’t grab chopsticks to eat!” and then, she kneeled down, grabbed Sachi by the cheeks again and said “You listen to your sis, you gotta stab ‘em first like this—”

Obu threw himself at her, a friendly sparr breaking out as Kuromaru snapped his teeth at the other dogs, barking playful warnings. Sachi was a little lost, not quite understanding why she was being celebrated when moments ago she had been scolded by the Hokage and Ashi. Yet… she didn’t run away like the other times.

She actually laughed, letting them pinch her, ruffle her and push her; when she would have left right away and hid herself in the library.

“One of ours.” Haiiro said, brushing against her side before joining the ring. “She’s my pup, you rats!”

Haiiro jumped right in, flattening both Tsume and Obu with his weight and digging his paws into their bellies. “Stand back!” he growled.

“Fuck off!” they replied.

Chairo and Kuromaru went after him, a temporary alliance to take the old hound down. Haiiro, for all his years, was not _that_ old. He had a few inches on them both, and a couple dozen pounds too.

Also, he was the alpha.

Ashi took advantage of the fight to take Sachi back, avoiding their clanmates getting too rough or too curious. Sachi was still injured, and some of her coils were still knotted. The girl gave her the biggest toothy grin, her cheeks flushed from all the rubbing and the joy.

Yeah, she fit right in.

“Okay, that’s enough.” she whistled, everyone coming to a halt slowly. “Sachi’s grounded, so no playing.”

“Partypooper.” Tsume said, smiling. “It’s her first time, give her some slack!”

The crowd, picking the cues, used the most powerful Inuzuka clan technique to change her mind.

Puppy eyes.

“Nu-uh!” she hugged Sachi tighter, petting her head to show them who was calling the shots. “You know that fuckin’ with Hyuugas get you in trouble, and first offense or not, she’s not gonna go unpunished.”

They booed, Haiiro joining them with the sad howl. “She’s too young for guarding duty!” one of them said. It was a tradition, that every Inuzuka that actively sought to fight a milky had to pay for it with the most boring mission ever; early morning guarding duty at the northern gate.

“Not for the kennels.”

The second best way to make an Inuzuka remotely sorry for causing problems was to put them to cleaning the kennels. Not quite as effective when you lacked their nose, but good enough to make you think twice.

Puppies were a lot of work.

“So cruel, nee-chan.” Tsume said, shaking the dust off her clothes. “She didn’t kill him, punishment enough is to get Gentle Fisted, don’t you think?”

“Gentle Fisted? Really? Sick dicks!” Obu said, sharing his best friend's stance. “Damn! Now we gotta go after ‘em!”

If only they knew that Sachi was two bad words away to go to trial for Clan Theft.

“Stand down, Obu.” Haiiro intervened, going towards her and shaking his fur. “Or you can get guarding duty.”

The clan laughed, Obu taking it with grace and bowing his head low. Giving Sachi a wink, he said “Sorry pup, I tried.”

“Come on, everyone as you were!” Ashi called over her shoulder, letting Sachi go and nudging her towards the house.

They muttered some more, the dogs barking before they dispersed. The last thing they needed was a noise complaint from their neighbours, or a party when they just got a lawsuit. Tsume and Kuromaru followed them, petting Sachi a bit more.

(Ashi saw much more than a ward in Sachi.)

“Nee-chan, you need to teach her some moves to defend herself. We can’t have you getting fisted, at least not until you actually want to—” Ashi slapped Tsume as she cackled like an unrepentant witch. “It’s good advice!” she slapped her again.

“Shut up and go make lunch.” she told her, focusing on Sachi. “I’ll be going to sort things out with the Hyuuga. You stay here and don’t get into fights, got it?”

“Can I go with you?”

“No, it’s Clan Head business” she immediately responded. Only the Sage knew what kind of scandal would pop out if she let Sachi talk to Hiroto.

“You going to see that old fart this fast, nee-chan?”

“Better now than later.” since dear Sachi had gotten Hiroto’s attention and a death sentence. Tsume hummed, not quite convinced. “I’ll steal a bottle from your collection, to make a point.”

“I swear, those milkies have a cellar full of our sake by now.” she called after her, not even miffed.

The Hyuuga, prickly assholes as they were with all their rules, and morality and traditions, sure had a taste for the Inuzuka sake. Ashi had learner very early in her life that one way to appease the noble clans was to get them utterly and completely drunk. Thankfully, the Inuzuka recipe was good enough to warrant peace talks and a slight chance of not going through the courtroom, mostly because it was distilled twice. Again.

“We’re off!” Ashi said, carrying a dusty bottle. “And don’t forget the kennels, Sachi, I want them clean when we get back!”

Once alone, Tsume and Kuromaru regarded Sachi, who had went quiet, looking at the entrance like a lost puppy. She ruffled her hair roughly, saying “Don’t worry, it won’t be the last time nee-chan has to go see that shriveled prune.”

“Yeah, don’t worry.”

“It’s not that…” she said, turning around with a frown. “I don’t want Ashi to speak for me. I did it, so I gotta deal with it, right?”

“Real nice, pup, but let nee-chan deal with it. Clan Head business is hella complicated, and I bet Hiroto just wants to make sure we lower clans don’t mess up the delicate asses of upper clans.” she rolled her eyes, huffing. “And what would you tell him, anyways? That you were sorry for punching one kid of theirs when they insulted you first? Because that’s not how it works with clan business, pup.”

Sachi considered it, coming up with nothing. The Archive usually dealt with this kind of problems, surveying the memories of both parties and deciding what should be done. Here, where people had to rely on verbal statements, which could be easily faked, justice was a tricky deal.

It frustrated Sachi to some extent, because it would be so easy to just show the memories that Tokuma called her names, insulted her and then attacked her. Sure, she did insult him back and strike back, entirely justified.

But that’s not how it worked in Leaf.

If they were that mad that she made a simple joke about being colorblind, how would they react with the rest of the information she had about them? About that sick seal on the side branch of the family, which the main house branded them at birth with the idea that those born in the lower cast were a risk to the clan.

Sachi had listened with disgust at the words of her cousin, explaining her that the Hyuuga esteemed their dojutsu to the extreme. The only explanation being that the side branches couldn’t deal with the responsibility of having such abilities, and on the happenstance that they were either captured or led astray by the world, the seal would make sure their secrets died with them.

Seals used for pain and suffering had disturbed the young Sachi, not understanding how someone could force a seal on others with the clear intent to hold power over them. The temporal seals were a way to ensure the full potential of the mind of a Kanbayashi, instead of the Caged Bird seal which would slowly corrode her brain’s pathways until her mind slipped away; and her eyes exploded from her orbits.

Yet, it didn’t matter.

No, it didn’t matter because Sachi was not a Hyuuga, but an Inuzuka. Ashi was her alpha, and so she obeyed like she would have done with the Archive.

“Fuck, this even works’” Tsume grumbled by the stove.

If the Hyuuga couldn’t take a joke, then _fine_. Her body still throbbed with every beat, her gates stuttering every so often because of the abuse, but Sachi could withstand pain very well. Or so she had discovered. She didn’t need them, and she didn’t want to stay on that watchlist forever.

“I’ll cook.”

Tsume regarded her oddly, quirking a brow and slowly asking “You know how to cook?”

“And bake. I’ll show you.”

Sachi decided whose side she was on, taking the matches from Tsume’s hands, she lit the hearth and pulled out the pots and pans.

Hyuugas could suck a dick, she much preferred the Inuzuka who didn’t torture their clanmates for fun, and who certainly did know how to take a joke. And not sue a literal child.

(She was more pissed off at the audacity than at the charges)

“You don’t smell like poison, sure.”

Sachi grinned carefully, her lip still bruised.

Yeah.

It was worth it.

(It was worth it.)

.

“Easy there, Ashi.”

They slowed down, jumping off the rooftops. Ashi took a deep breath. She really, really hated going to the upper clans. Especially on _peace talks_.

“I can fake rabies, if you wanna.”

She would have chuckled, had they not been met with the grand entrance of the Hyuuga lands. “So they sue you too?”

“They can try.” he snarled silently, not happy in the least. “Let’s get this over with. Good luck.”

Ashi let him nuzzle her hand before heeling her body. Humans were her domain, Haiiro choosing to stay away because if not, he would end up biting fingers off, or taking a chunk of flesh out of someone. Hiroto was the first target, if Ashi ever gave the order, and as tempting as it was, Ashi preferred to keep her clan alive for a few more years.

The gates of the Hyuuga lands were giant rounded wooden structures, black lanterns hanging from the higher arches glowing with violet fire. The Hyuuga in front of them gave them a dirty glare, their milky eyes bulging out like crushed toads.

“Ashi-sama.” they said, cautious enough to keep their snark away but not bowing to her. She was not their Clan Head. “Hiroto-sama is expecting you.”

They didn’t need escorting. Ashi and Haiiro had walked up and down the path to the Main House before those two younglings were alive. Nonetheless, they trailed after them like trained dogs, lest they get ideas and worsen the situation.

Noble clans loved to boast, which made her grit her teeth. The lands were certainly bigger, more organized and neat. Their compound was crammed, Inuzukas prowling around, yelling and laughing and training in open rings. Puppies and old dogs running all over their forest, yipping and howling. They were a tight knitted clan, and it showed.

And it did show that they weren’t as affluent as Hyuugas. They were wealthier, their lands spread all over the upper plain and even a few in the lower one. Also a bigger clan, perhaps a hundred in terms of working force. Two big families, completely severed from one another.

Mostly flat and decorated sparsely, the Hyuuga lands were the example of sobriety and minimalism. The paths were made out of cobblestone, even the dirt besides it shinier and cleaner than anything you would find in their compound. Ashi’s nose tickled with the scent of violets and olive trees, all arranged neatly in geometric shapes, leading up to the main house.

The Main House was a massive building, wooden like the usual designs in the first level. All straight edges, intricate window plaques in deep violet following the geometrical pattern, and brown, grey and white curving roofs. It had several floors, five if she recalled correctly, and spreading into three cuadrangular segments with a massive training field in each of the centers.

A testament to how imposing the main branch of the Hyuuga was.

Ashi knew that the Main House had been made by Hashirama, per the request of the newly settling Hyuugas. An envy, anything related to their Shodaime valuable even across the Continent. The Hyuugas knew this, and so they flaunted their roots by surrounding the structure with the the side branches houses. Although still pointedly expensive and old, they didn’t have as many sly details as the others.

Small, evenly squared around the walls of the compound, beige with dark roofs, they blended into the background. They weren’t important, left aside like scraps.

Haiiro nuzzled her hand again.

It wasn’t Ashi’s place to speak, and yet she was unreasonably angry being in the Hyuuga lands. Seeing the stark difference between main and side families made her swallow down a growl.

The Inuzuka didn’t have a problem with the Hyuuga per se, putting aside the strictly financial reasons or the old grudges. What the Inuzuka didn't like, or rather didn’t accept, was the blatant disregard of one’s own family, cutting them apart and keeping them separated.

(They didn’t speak about how the Inuzukas were the first ones to defend the side branches of the Hyuuga, or how those very same side branch Hyuugas lessened the charges afterwards.)

The Main House, was ever so sunny inside. If she were to believe Sachi’s guesses, the Hyuuga didn’t deal well with darkness, which would explain why every hall had the roof with violet lanterns. There weren’t as many windows as there were holes for light to seep through. Walls for a Hyuuga were useless, light was a necessity.

The steward, an old branch woman that Ashi met when she first became Clan Head, guided her to the end of the house. There were many rooms, as the entire main family lived in the same house. Some were in the courtyard, the grunts and slaps of hits meeting either skin or dummies filling the quiet silence of the Hyuugas.

They didn’t stop to stare, extremely impolite and a cause for the ever unblinking Hyuuga watchmen at every corner to report back to their leader. Gentle Fist was not a technique anyone besides the Hyuuga were interested in, needing the byakugan to successfully accomplish it. With enough anatomical knowledge, one could pin point the tenketsu, but not accurately or quick enough to be implemented into their fighting style. It didn’t matter, not for them, because the paranoia of their Clan Head ran deeper than any logical argument.

Haiiro bared his teeth, letting a silent warning for those staring Hyuugas.

Ashi was very happy with the Inuzuka style, thank you very much.

“Thank you, Hanae-san.” she said as she kneeled and slid the door open.

Her response was “Ashi-sama has arrived, Hiroto-dono.”

Hyuuga Hiroto was an old, wrinkly man. The same age as Ashi’s father would have been had he not died, with deep ridges around his forehead from all the frowning and the edges of his lips permanently set downward in a scowl. He was seated in the middle of the room, otherwise empty except for the low desk.

Shadows cast for the afternoon hour from the window frame behind him, Hiroto was the same man she kept visiting at least once every two months. Ancient, rooted and austere, he slowly met her eyes in the doorframe. Ashi was not one of his sclaves to be neatly kneeling down, waiting for his command to step in. She stared right back, Hiroto familiar with her customs as she was of his.

“I would say welcome, Ashi-sama,” he said, voice perfectly even and composed “but I’m not one for lies.”

“Likewise, Hiroto-sama.” she said, closing the door behind her and letting Haiiro first to set down at the table, giving an uninterested huff.

Hiroto watched the dog with barely contained disdain, Ashi knowing full well that he was very particular about fur. Had they not been facing Clan Theft charges, Haiiro would have rolled down on his pretty brown cushions, maybe even drool on them, to spite him.

“I’ve brought sake, in case our throats get dry during our talk.” not wasting any time, she set the bottle down.

Hiroto nodded in acknowledgement, clapping twice for Hanae-san to slide the door and take the order to bring little dishes to drink. All of them were familiar with the procedure, Ashi bringing alcohol, Hiroto feigning sobriety, and Hanae-san indulging them both as if it was the very first time.

“I do not accept bribes.” he reminded her, more for appearances sake than real intention.

“A very honorable trait.” she played along, just like her father taught her.

 _“The best way to jack off a Hyuuga is with words, dear.”_ her father would say every time he came back from ‘peace talks’.

Hanae appeared shortly after. Haiiro was convinced that the old woman prepared the dishes beforehand and hid them in the hems of her yukata when another Inuzuka messed up a Hyuuga. Ashi was willing to believe it, if only because she hadn’t heard her move at all since her _master_ prompted her to.

Hanae poured a tumbler for each one and left after Hiroto waved her away. Sometimes, Ashi swore he did it on purpose just to piss her off. Ashi would willingly engage in a spar to kick that dried out grape anyday if it made him at least hesitant to treat his family like garbage.

Ashi sipped her drink, savouring Tsume’s work to distract herself. It wasn’t her clan, and so she had no leverage. No complaints would move the Hokage, excusing that behaviour because the Hyuuga would only change if they wished, not forced by outside perspectives. _Tradition_. Ashi could somewhat understand that, Inuzuka customs often judged as well, but—

Oh for fucks sake, Hanae was Hiroto’s. Little. _Sister_.

“Let us begin.” he murmured, setting his cup down. “I see you have been busy… with your newly found daughter, I believe.”

“Ward.” she corrected. “Sachi is my ward.”

Hiroto took that in with grace, or disinterest, she wasn’t sure. “She is under your direct protection, I assume?”

“Yes.”

He was asking to make sure how to address their issue. A regular Inuzuka, that is, not related to the Clan Head by close bonds, falls under different laws than a close family member. Any Inuzuka will be defended by the Clan Head equally — or so was the theory— but family members such as parents, siblings, partners or children had much more weight when it came to conflicts.

Sachi was not Ashi’s daughter and not blood related by any means. However, Ashi _was_ her guardian in any legal matters plus being her Clan Head, and whatever semantics the Inuzuka alpha used, Sachi was under her direct protection.

“Quite the change.” he mused. “I wouldn’t have guessed that your clan has a tradition of for acquiring a heir through adoption.”

At her side, Haiiro almost reached out and bit his delicate parts underneath the table. Hiroto was a heartless bastard, using whatever details from his opponent to bring them down. Using Ashi’s lack of a husband for ‘ _acquiring an heir_ ’ through the usual methods was downright nasty. Heavily implying that she had went out of her way to get a child just so she could have a loyal minion to continue the line, not through blood, but through teachings.

“There were extenuating circumstances.” she defended herself, taking another small sip to busy her teeth unless she gave into her instinct to punch that sentient butthole. “It’s somewhat of a modern concept, Hiroto-sama, to take someone in with no further motive than providing a home and a family for them.” then, filling her cup with a flourish, she added “My clan does not elect their Clan Head based on bloodline, as you must know.”

The day Hiroto kicked the bucket Ashi was going to throw a party, drown herself in their best sake, and then throw up in his mausoleum. Probably set it on fire too.

“Ah, yes.” he dignifiedly remarks. “The Inuzuka do not need bother themselves with keeping a bloodline pure. A trial by fire, so to speak.”

Ashi strained a toothy smile. The Hyuuga were strictly patriarchal and by order of birth, a straight line all the way to their first ancestor; only keeping a male and a female from each litter, the rest were sent to be branded and awarded with a life of servitude for the mere fact of being born later.

How could a man like Hiroto understand? His life laid in stone for him by his predecessors; similar to the Uchiha. To willingly choose, or rather work your way up, was a foreign concept for him that he never passed the opportunity to criticize.

Ashi was willing to admit that fighting your way through the clan, breaking bones and possibly crippling or killing them, was not the best way to do it. The Nara were evaluated all throughout their lives, all their decisions weighted and analyzed, until coming up with the wisest of them all to rule. The Akimichi shared their spars, adding the body modifications until either their opponent gave up or their own bodies did. Yamanaka had a contest on who could mindfuck their opponent the best, achieving a vegetative state adding bonus points. Aburame…. well, they had a nice rotation or something like that, all hard facts and logic, that bunch.

“Not for the weak heart.” she jabbed, relishing the deepening of his stern expression. Ah, to be young and make people self conscious about their age, what a classic.

A Hyuuga’s hate had become a family heirloom for the Inuzuka, for only they got away to pissing the noble clan off. Her father had problems with Hiroto ever since Ashi had been born, a woman not good enough in his eyes.

(He later broke his nose in the ANBU HQ, and he accepted the demotion with a smile.)

After Tsume was born, and consequently grew to go to the Academy, it jus so happened that she got into the same class as his sons. To say that they didn’t like each other would be an understatement, the three of them managing to retire four teachers and a director because of all the political tension that followed their usual fights.

It hadn’t started like that. Hizashi and Tsume had an on-and-off friendship, the younger Hyuuga quick of wit if inspired enough. That is, until she learned about the Caged Bird seal, being horrified, fighting Hiashi for justifying it and then dealt with the aftermath. It hadn’t been pretty, and it deeply affected her, only worsening when Hizashi broke any contact with her; either by his own volition or forced by the very same man Ashi was staring across the table.

Of course, it didn’t help that Tsume spent her Academy days alone, too young to be drift into war. Ashi and their parents had been on the front lines, medic aids and fighters in equal measure. Ashi was the only one to make it back, and from there it was brawl after brawl.

She had never wanted to become Clan Head, willing to let anyone take the lead and try to cope with life after war. How could she? When she came back to find Tsume sad and alone and betrayed, with a lawsuit hanging from her neck, and newly orphaned. The last thing she would do was to force her out of the house they had spent their childhood in— Ashi fought for her right to be Clan Head for the sake of her little sister, not wanting her to hurt anymore.

It disgusted her, to know that the Hyuuga Clan Head would rather kill his own siblings than care for them.

“I believe we have pressing matters at hand, Ashi-sama.” Hiroto said, breaking their salty chit chat. Sliding a thin folder towards her, he added “Tokuma-kun has his left flank bruised, soreness of his forearms and… his eyes damaged.”

Ashi surveyed the nurses report. “Soreness and bruising are often signs and symptoms of physical exertion, such as using clan techniques, especially one as complex and draining as the Gentle Fist.”

Fucking milkies.

Hiroto was not amused.

“About the eye damage… here says ‘cephalea, possible photophobia’ which, if I may explain—”

“It’s not necessary.”

“ —it’s a condition that is not related to Sachi. At all.”

Hiroto filled his cup once more. “Tokuma-kun was very insistent that it is.” he said, making a point to pause before continuing. “You have not brought a medical report.”

“It’s not necessary, I know the extent of the damages well enough.”

“You might be… trained in veterinary medicine, Ashi-sama, but your involvement rules any of those reports null and void until a neutral third party confirms it.” he said flatly. “I would like to review the damages.”

Ashi hissed dramatically, saying “I apologize, Hiroto-sama, but there are no medical reports than any other than myself might provide. Sachi came quite bruised, and she has brittle health you see, and I couldn’t wait to get her to the hospital when I’m already trained in the medical field aside from veterinary medicine.”

As if she was going to let that old, hairless rat spy on Sachi’s medical reports that easily. Tokuma must have told him about Sachi’s pathways, and going by their photophobia, he must have gotten flashed in the process of using his byakugan to find her tenketsu.

Ashi didn’t feel bad at all. Let it be a warning for any other nosy Hyuuga.

Although it did worry her, not Tokuma, but Sachi. She knew the basics of human medicine and Tsunade had thoroughly explained her how to treat emergencies if any of Sachi’s haphazard pathways broke out again. Normally, when one used a diagnosis jutsu, the pathways echoed the intruding chakra with a push of its own; a reflex reaction. With Sachi it was… a global response, all of the stray chakra in her blood and tissue surging like a slap.

“But if you so eagerly want a report, then… laceration of the lower lip, knotting of the right infraclavicular and pectoral tenketsu points, also knotting following the left sternocleidomastoid muscle” which were hell to get out, the small pocket of chakra blistering her skin” localized bruises in epigastric and umbilical region,” the fifth, sixth and seventh chakra gates, all with neat purple fingertips around them “grade one ankle sprain and overall chakra overload that I, with great care, thankfully treated without further intervention.” she let him drink, and said “Guardian or not, I cannot disclose anything more. Patient confidentiality and all that.”

And fuck if it didn’t ran her empty. Only stubbornness and the scare had planted Ashi in the bathroom and painstakingly unknotted every damn turn and twist of her pathways. Sachi took it in with a grunts and gasps for air, holding the tears as best as she could. Only her burnt pain receptors prevented her from passing out, wich didn’t reassure Ashi in the least.

“Patient confidentiality or not, we cannot evaluate the extent of your… _ward’s_ damages without a reassurance that no underlying conditions could worsen her state.” the sly fucking bastard— “You have officiated assault charges against Tokuma, when your ward clearly retaliated against him, I want an explanation.”

“My Sachi is getting accustomed to a hidden village life, coming from a civilian background.” if a centuries old clan that had dirt on anyone counted as civilian. “When Tokuma-kun instigated a fight with insults, and then physical violence, she had no other way than defend herself. Not quite as effectively as Tokuma-kun, since she hasn’t had any ninja training.”

He squinted his white eyes at her, not believing her one bit. “There’s no proof that Tokuma-kun instigated a fight, nor insulted her.”

Ashi shook her head, not letting the old hawk head that way. “The other options are that my Sachi started that fight, or that they both willingly engaged in a spar. My ward didn’t have a motive to insult Tokuma-kun, and she obviously wouldn’t know how to act in friendly spars.” taking a breath, she said “It’s not the first time someone from your clan sought a conflict with my clan, on the sole basis of being part of the Inuzuka. And—” she tapped the medical report with her finger “this incident falls under that pattern.”

Hiroto, not so easily sweetened up by words, replied “And for every Hyuuga that engaged with your clan with no honorable intentions, five Inuzuka actively humiliated, insulted and attacked my clan for our dojutsu. And—” he took back the report, closing it with a smack “this does fall under that pattern.”

Touché.

Inuzukas did hunt Hyuuga for a fight, although Ashi greatly discouraged it. They clashed, and when they did, it was a family affair. Had Sachi been part of another clan, like the Yuuhi, she would have been brushed off and settled with paying for one another’s medical treatments.

Because Sachi had the red fangs and Tokuma had the byakugan—

 _Politics_.

“Your ward is not from Fire Country, correct?”

She nodded.

She couldn’t hide that. Sachi’s features were akin to those up in the Northern Belt, and although she had died her hair dark, once she grew up there would be no denying where she came from. Fire Country folk was more rounded, easily tanned and bulky yet not heavy (except for the Akimichi).

“And you say… she isn’t accustomed to living in a hidden village.” which ruled out a spontaneous kidnapping from their fellow ninja neighbours. “Yet… she was not surprised to see Tokuma.”

Damn.

Hyuugas were creepy as they came. Ashi had grown up to them, as she did with the Aburame bugs and the Uchiha sharingan, but for foreigners they were like tourist attractions. That’s why most of the Hyuuga were in ANBU, hiding underneath a mask or taking up tracking missions. Sachi did know how a Hyuuga looked, and knew much more than their appearance.

“The Hyuuga name and the byakugan’s fame has traveled far and wide, Hiroto-sama.” more verbal masturbation, great. “Sachi, although ignorant, is quite intelligent to recognize a person with seemingly white eyes and clearly able to see.”

He hummed, not satisfied but letting her words stroke his ego.

Counting her lucky stars, she pushed. “Sachi is being sued for Clan Theft, I want an explanation as to why a civilian is being prosecuted for it when she visibly isn’t from this country, and not familiar enough with its clans to have any sensitive information about them.”

The bottle was halfway done, using it as buffer to buy them time or try to get the other drunk when not answering.

“Your ward has made an unsavoury comment to Tokuma-kun, which has been brought up my attention.” suspicion didn’t quite say, but Ashi knew his tells by now to not need a voiced opinion.

“Just as Tokuma-kun did to Sachi.” she commented, seeing his confidence slip away. “I wasn’t aware we were now taking children arguments to discuss in the courtrooms.”

He held her eyes for a second before taking another gulp. Ashi was allowed, by law, to act upon any _aggressive_ eye contact for more than fifteen seconds. And sometimes, just sometimes, she wished that Hiroto held her gaze for fifteen seconds and a quarter to take out those fake teeth of his.

“The Hyuuga have a dojutsu, Ashi-sama.” he insisted “I have to act on my clan’s best interests, being a child or a criminal. Your ward made quite the remark that troubled me and my clan.”

Before she could speak, he continued. “As her guardian, you are obligated to teach her proper behaviour. If… she isn’t from Fire Country, and you don’t appear to be as bothered as I am, then… you aren’t fully aware of how much she might know.”

Ashi knew that he would bring it up. Adoptions weren’t that rare, even common with civilians, but it was odd to see a Clan Head take up a child without exhibiting prior intentions. If asked, anyone in the ninja field would testify that Inuzuka Ashi did not want children. It stopped being an option when Isamu died, and the Inuzuka had quite a few orphans from the war that she could have easily taken under her wing.

Discarding motherly instincts, Sachi’s case was an open question.

_Why did Ashi adopt her?_

Tsume asked her once or twice, her clan questioning her before accepting Sachi. Nonetheless, Ashi couldn’t silence the rest of the village via spars or warning growls, and so she had to deal with the consequences of gossip.

Like now.

“Sachi is a very smart child, Hiroto-sama.” she emphasized slowly “I saw potential in her, although I prefer to keep my motives to myself. The _Hokage_ agreed me becoming her guardian, and he has deemed her a citizen of Leaf like any that has been born here.” and then, just to be clear “If Sachi has startled you with her comments, enough to claim Clan Theft, then I can speak with all honesty that it was not her intention.”

Hiroto doubted that, Ashi doubted that, Haiiro doubted that and even Hanae eavesdropping doubted that. Sachi had spoken with the mission to hurt and make fun of Tokuma, her tongue wicked when she put her observations into insults. Thankfully, Tokuma was ten years old, flashed down by an Inuzuka and acting up as any child would. Hiroto was tempted to believe Tokuma, being a main branch, but there weren’t any other witnesses to get the exact words. Ashi was going out on a limb, betting on Sachi’s strange state of affairs, but children were mean, often exaggerating, and easily misinterpreted.

After what seems like hours, Hiroto turns his cup upside down, saying. “I’m…open to withdraw the Clan Theft charges. If you’re willing to revoke the Civilian Harassment claims.”

Clan Theft was serious, but so was Civilian Harassment. Because ninja were in the military, and trained to hurt and to deceive, civilians had laws protecting them. It didn’t help that those kind of claims needed the Clan Council and Civilian Council all gathered up in the same courtroom, and that civvies, being granted impunity over more than a ninja could get away with, the lawsuits often ended badly for the ninja party.

It wasn’t as serious as death penalty, unless you really messed up, but it did cause the civilian population to antagonize shinobi even more. Add that to a noble clan, who was suing a child not even a decade old, recently adopted and with a compromised health… and you had quite the story to share over tea.

Oh, what a scandal.

Sachi was considered a civilian, despite being an Inuzuka on paper. If one wasn’t in the Academy or wasn’t working in any of the ninja facilities or positions, then they were considered civilians.

It happened to be Sachi’s saving grace, as Ashi put her cup upside down and said “It has been a great misunderstanding, hasn’t it, Hiroto-sama?”

“It has, Ashi-sama.” he answered, glacial as his heart.

Ashi nodded politely and got up, Haiiro matching her and shaking the sleep out of his body, or so appeared. “Until next time, Hiroto-sama.” she said, flashing her fangs, and then turning her back.

Before she got out of that Sage awful room, he couldn’t help but remark “I advise you to teach Sachi-kun better.”

Haiiro put himself in the middle just in case, Ashi choosing to close the door behind her before she turned around and fucked him up. Hiroto, who didn’t even acknowledge anyone but himself and Hiashi, speaking about teaching children.

What a fucking joke.

“Thank you, Hanae-san.” Ashi said, mustering a good comment for the woman at her side, who put up with too much bullshit to endure her fuming at her side.

Her white eyes met hers for a second, free of any challenge and full of slight amusement and understanding. “You’re welcome, Ashi-sama,” and then, with a wink “Haiiro-sama.”

“Thanks.”

Not many of the noble clans were willing to bow to a dog, perceived as inferior in their eyes despite being a rightful alpha. Hanae knew better than to go against the supposed hostility of the Hyuuga towards the Inuzuka, but few were paying attention to them now. No wonder they liked her.

Wasting no time to get out of there, they used a body flicker as soon as they crossed the threshold of the compound, their feet clashing with the platforms of the trees above them.

“He’s a dick,” came Haiiro’s reassurance, feeling her upset “it could have gone worse, knowing that filth.”

It could have.

Ashi hated being powerless, the bile rising in her throat at the thoughts of the Inuzuka that she couldn’t defend from that paranoid bastard. Thinking of Sachi, going through a Yamata poison, or worse, decapitated as a criminal because she didn’t know better than to just punch the Hyuuga instead of making fun of him—

“That he is.” jumping higher to release the tension in her body, she said “She’s just a kid, for fuck’s sake.”

They had been lucky enough to turn the charges, because as much as Ashi wanted to believe that Hiroto wouldn’t issue an execution on a child, she just couldn’t lie to herself.

(The Hyuuga were ruthless when it came to the byakugan. Their eyes were more important than the bodies they were attached to.)

“You see her like that, not our old ‘kage though.”

“I didn’t—”

She didn’t fucking care about the Archive, that’s not why she took Sachi in.

“I know you didn’t,” Haiiro interrupted her, on edge too. “but my nose’s telling me that Sachi getting in trouble with the neighbours is gonna happen again.”

Ashi had that feeling too. She would swear up and down that she was a good kid, little as they knew each other, but she had a way to unsettle people around her that Ashi couldn’t hide.

(Her eyes. Her eyes were too bright and too cunning.)

They couldn’t keep her trapped forever, because it wouldn’t be different from the other option that the Hokage had proposed to her. ANBU surveillance, drifted off to their most secure facilities and made part of the witness protection.

A prison with fancier bars.

The Inuzuka alphas cared for the child they had swore to protect, but they were at a loss how to achieve that long term.

“Ashi—”

“Haiiro.” she warned.

“She needs to learn.”

They dropped off to the lower branches, losing altitude as they approached the cliff between the levels. Ashi didn’t want to hear it. She had expressed her opinion on the matter and she didn’t want to be questioned again.

“I will teach her.” she hissed, the parting words of Hiroto pulsing in her brain. Ugh. “She’s smart, she’ll get it quick.”

Or so she hoped. Sachi was a quick learner, true, but it was another matter if she went with it or not. They had tried very hard to explain to her the importance of caring for animals, considering their job at the clinic, but, without fail, everytime Tsume complained about a patient she would say ‘kill it’. She was absolutely serious, always, and Tsume would slap her up the head for that. It didn’t stop her though.

What a fucking mess.

“I wanna see that.” he commented, groaning when they got to their district. “Might surprise us.”

After getting to the compound Ashi started to feel the exhaustion in her bones. Politics had been her least favorite bonus when she became Clan Head, taking too much mental effort to doubletalk back and forth while keeping track to not disclose too much. Haiiro was tired too, trying to hide it by pretending to be lazy.

“I’m showering and going to bed.” she confessed, cracking her neck. Hiroto’s scent always irked her, enough negative associations to make her ill.

“Damn right, maybe food. Do you think the pup’s cleaned the kennels yet?”

The answer came right as they entered the house.

“ —useless! I told you already, thirty minutes, can’t you count?!” that was Sachi’s voice, reaching pitches that were hurting their ears.

“Fuck off! This clock’s broken! And if you sass me again, pup, I’m going to—”

 _Smack_.

Ashi felt a cold dread in her spine while her body moved instantly towards the kitchen were the screams were coming from. Sachi pissed off the Hyuuga already, the last thing she needed was to get on Tsume’s tail too.

What Ashi and Haiiro found was far from the battlefield they had expected. Tsume wasn’t above hitting children, happy to reinforce the hierarchy with painful methods, and Sachi had a stubborn streak that took a saint not to act upon. Tsume was not one.

Instead, they found the kitchen covered in flour, something burning on the stove and Sachi and Tsume seizing each other, Kuromaru whining in a corner.

Another detail that they hadn’t expected was to see Tsume, paler than they had ever seen her — and not because of the half pound of flour on her— and staring with her jaw to the floor. Sachi was brandishing a wooden spoon, her chakra crackling like a thunderstorm while she bared her teeth.

It took Ashi and Haiiro a moment to understand what happened.

Sachi hit Tsume with a spoon.

Tsume broke out from her stupor, her cheeks flushing so red that her fangs faded into her skin. She straightened her back, flexing her muscles slowly and ready to throw Sachi onto the floor and possibly break every bone that the Hyuuga Tokuma had missed earlier that day.

But it didn’t happen.

“Watch it.” Sachi said, mimicking the tone Ashi used when she wanted people to obey. “Are you going to let me, or not?” she growled. An actual, honest to the Sage, growl.

Up until then Sachi had taken their physical clues slowly, growls and barks not quite her thing. People outside the Inuzuka had a hard time understanding the subtlety of a growl or the eye contact, involving much more than just words. It was clear that Sachi dealt opposite as them, using their bloodline limit to share information and only using words to communicate with each other.

Quick learner alright.

To Ashi’s surprise, Tsume relaxed, although not entirely. “Let’s see what you can do.”

And then, like they hadn’t been engaged in a standout against each other, they welcomed them back with tense grins.

“What happened?”

Tsume shrugged off her apron, throwing it in Sachi’s direction with more force than necessary, the girl catching it with her face. “Your pup and I got into a bet.”

Tsume had a way with bets that made Tsunade-hime weep with envy. Ever since she was just a snotty brat she knew how to coax the best outcome based on pure instinct alone; it saved her ass more times than her through training did. Normally, when Tsume betted on something, she usually won.

“We bet that I could make lunch faster than she could bake whatever she wanted.”

Oh.

Tsume’s luck with bets was always right except on one thing: her culinary skills. Ashi was no better, but she knew how to _not_ burn water. Tsume had cursed hands when it came to cooking, baking being a downright nightmare. They had lost counts on how many walks of shame they had done to the nearest Akimichi restaurant after checking if they were still useless in the kitchen. They had quickly adapted to smooch out of Hisumi-baa-sama.

“I bet her that I could make something for lunch before you got here, so we can eat together.” Sachi said, easing on her own. “She insisted that I couldn’t cook, so..” she pointed at the flour covered kitchen and strange substances on the floor and table with her spoon “here we are.”

Haiiro went to investigate, making sure Tsume wouldn’t go for Sachi’s throat or the other doing something as stupid as hitting a higher placed member with an easily breakable weapon.

“... why?”

“We were bored.” Tsume supplied, patting the flour out of her clothes the best as possible. “And hungry.”

Ashi took a few steps forward, surveying the pan sizzling with burned… pork ribs? There was something akin to rice in a pot, although blackened beyond recognition, going by scent alone and grimacing.

Not promising.

But… there was something sweet in the air too.

Ashi looked down, the ancient oven that they hadn’t messed with ever since Tsume made it to genin, was actually working.

“Are those… cookies?”

Sachi beamed at her, flailing her spoon like a wand with pride. “Yep! And they’re almost ready, but lunch will take longer, since Tsume kept going on and on and—” her sister slapped her up the head, a trademark warning for Sachi. She didn’t even pretend it hurt her anymore.

“Don’t listen to her, nee-chan.” she hissed, not hostile but not amused either “I would have managed if you hadn’t kept criticizing me!”

“I was telling you how it was done!”

“I didn’t need it!”

Sachi pointed to the stove, her unimpressed expression making her reconsider. “I told you to mind the rice, nine times, and you told me to fuck off and mind my cookies.”

“You know what? I’m done,” she threw her hands up in the air, before sharply cornering her to the countertop and rumbling low “you better make the best lunch I ever had, pup, or I’m going to throw you at the senile hounds.”

Sachi, despite being terrorized of their hounds with dementia, stood her ground with her nose crunched up and not backing up an inch. “You’re going to clean the kennels, Tsume.”

Ashi should feel very bad for being proud of Sachi challenging Tsume. She fully trusted her sister to not act upon it, since Ashi could tell that she was humoring their struggling pup, but to see her behaving like an Inuzuka after so many months of painfully standing out—

There was hope.

“Very well, Sachi.” Tsume said, smug. “We’ll see how this ends.”

Her sister left, whistling after Kuromaru who undoubtedly had to endure hours of on and off challenges. Sachi’s eyes focused on her, turning serious in a heartbeat and asked “How did the meeting go?”

She was nervous, more than her mock fight with Tsume. Ashi couldn’t make sense of it, since she didn’t care about the Hyuuga that had kicked her ass.

“The Hyuuga have taken down their charges, so no death—”

Sachi sighed in relief. “Does it mean that won’t happen anything to you?”

She frowned. “Why would something happen to us, darlin’? You were the one sued.”

“Because of what I said? I… I though that they would blame you and…” she trailed off, switching stances a moment later. “I’m sorry,” she truthfully said “not to what I said to that— Hyuuga Tokuma, but… I don’t want to cause problems to you.”

Fucking hell. Sachi wanted her to cry.

Something she had noticed after speaking with her was that Sachi rarely hid what she thought, at least not with her and Haiiro. There were things that either of them refrained from asking her, mainly her family and what happened to her, but she had told them everything they wanted to know without restrictions. She commented and remarked freely, voicing her opinions often.

To hear her apologizing to her, despite Ashi acting as her guardian, made her all mushy inside. She ruffled her hair, getting some of the flour in her fingers “Oh pup, you don’t have to worry about it.”

Sachi disagreed just as much as she talked, Haiiro speaking before she got the chance “Already forgotten, pup, but you watch your mouth from now one, ‘kay?” she nodded. “Good. You have bigger problems now, like filling Tsume’s stomach before she makes you lick the kennels clean, pup.”

That image wasn’t a fun one. Sachi grimaced, saying “I know what I’m doing.”

.

Turned out that Sachi did know what she was doing.

Ashi, Tsume and the dogs got treated with the most fulfilling and delicious meal they had ever had ever since the war ended. They ate until they went into a food coma. Sachi made a full stockpot of soup, a cauldron —which they didn’t even knew they had— of vegetable rice with grounded beef with some kind of sauce and cookies for desert.

Tsume wasn’t even mad that she had to clean the kennels, deeming it worth it in her book, even more because Sachi was in charge of breakfast too the next morning.

“You’re really good at this, pup.”

“Thanks, Haiiro, but it isn’t ready yet.”

Ashi was watching Sachi work her magic in their kitchen. It was not that small, since the Inuzuka main house had been made with the ide to host at least twenty people, although not as great as the noble clans. The pantry was at the left, mainly meats and bones, some preserves they hadn’t grow that desperate to open. Tsume kept her sake and wine there too, the barrels never piling for long.

Sachi seemed comfortable there, between the old stove and the oven.

“Where did you learn to cook, Sachi?”

Ashi regretted it the moment she spoke. Where would Sachi learn how to cook, except from the home she had to flee—?

“The kitchens.” she said, her chakra at ease. “It was one of Chika-sama’s favourite punishments. There was always work to be done, and after a while,” she flipped the eggs “the cooks taught me how to work there, how to sharpen the knives, to dice onions, peel potatoes, there were so many potatoes… and how to do the menus, or prepare food for the travelers.”

“It serves you well, then.” Haiiro amended.

Sachi didn’t often speak of the Kanbayashi, out of suspicion or grief, she had closed that door firmly. They were moments in which she was more open, like now, yet with the unspoken pain behind her words.

She giggled, saying “I almost destroyed the kitchens when I tried to pour water on an oil fire. Which wasn’t the best of starts, you know…”

“What did you learn?”

“To never, ever, pour water on an oil fire.” she paused, putting aside the eggs. “Unless you want a column of fire spitting everywhere, people screaming at you, and your hair singed.”

Breakfast was almost done, the smell rising Tsume from her deep slumber, Kuromaru’s nails muffled by the carpets on the halls.

“It smells fucking good in here.” was her greeting.

Breakfast they ate at the kitchen table, sometimes skipping the eating order depending on who had to wake up first. Inuzukas they were, but they were also ninjas. Sometimes it was impossible to match their schedules. Ashi used to get a cup of coffee and grab whatever rations they had in the cupboards and run to whatever mission she had.

It had been a while since they ate together.

“Morning to you too, Tsume.”

She saluted them, taking the plate Sachi gave her and settling down on the kitchen table. “Sage, I can get used to this.”

Sachi put the meals for the dogs on their respective bowls, before she took a seat at Ashi side and waited.

Ashi took a bite so Tsume could start on her meal, watching her ward with curious eyes. “You can eat too, Sachi, it’s your own work.”

“Good one too.” tried to say Tsume, coming out as “gooshonetoo.”

“I’m fine.” she simply said, “I don’t like hot food.”

That comment struck her as odd, Ashi getting better at reading Sachi than relying on her chakra. She decided to let it be, eating dutifully the eggs and bacon Sachi had made for them.

There was nothing better than home made food.

(It has been a good while since they had it.)

Tsume finished eating and took a handful of cookies and grabbed Kuromaru’s tail. “I’m off.”

“Mission?”

She nodded. “A week, tops.”

“I could make you food—”

“Nah, pup. We can’t take food with us or it can distract the ninken, especially,” she pinched Kuromaru’s nose, “this one here. Make sure you have something when we come back!”

Tsume stormed off as she came, their encounter not having passed ten minutes. “That was fast.” she remarked. “I could have given her something, I know how to make travelers food.”

“Don’t worry ‘bout her, pup.” Haiiro said, licking his snout. “Tsume will eat anything as long as it doesn’t make her too sick.”

A ninja didn’t have the luxury to turn away food, much less on the field. “Yeah, it’s only a week. She can’t carry food with her, however good as it might be.” she nudged her, making her eat.

“You don’t _carry_ traveler food, you put it into retaining scrolls.”

Haiiro barked a laugh. “Not sure ‘bout that.”

She frowned, swallowing the bite and asking “Why not?”

“Retaining scrolls are very expensive, Sachi.” Ashi answered instead. “They aren’t used for food, but for weapons and supplies.”

“Expensive?” Sachi insisted, aghast.

“An entire year of wages for a jounin.” Ashi said with a shrug. “More, now that sealing masters are in hiding.”

A retaining scroll was the epitome of wealth. You paid for their skill, their knowledge and trust. Fuuinjutsu was an art that besides useful, was deadly; normally for the user, rather than the master. That is, if they were truly a master. There were many impostors, seeking the fortune and fame of a sealing master, that would endanger those who bought any seal from them. It didn’t end in scrolls, exploding tags another item that ninja would, and have, killed to get at least once.

Uzushio had been famed for producing such masters, their alliance with Leaf beneficial in terms of procuring such trust and genuine seals. There had been a time where you could get any seal if you were amiable enough to have a small vacation in Uzushio, and the price lowered if you flashed a Leaf’s insignia.

But Uzushio was dead, and all its masters scattered.

“Why would you pay someone else to make a retaining scroll?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” she stared blankly at her “We don’t know how.”

Sachi finished chewing, and said very carefully. “You don’t make your own seals?”

“We don’t know seals, darlin’.” she repeated.

Wich was like a slap to her face, if she had to go by her expression. “None? Not even paralytic seals?”

“None, pup.”

The girl took a moment to gather her thoughts, clearly shaken. Ashi believed that she might have thrown a fit in her frustration, her chakra tightly bound around her in uncertainty. However, she didn’t address it, saying “Seals aren’t for everyone.”

The cemetery was full of failed sealing masters.

“They’re dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing.”

“Yes, but so is everything else.” Sachi said, taking a cookie. “It does explain a few things, though.”

Haiiro put his head on her lap, Sachi scratching him behind his ears. “Like what?”

She looked around the room. “There aren’t any seals in the house, not even the protective ones around the windows. Only wire traps.”

Oh fuck. Ashi had forgotten to warn Sachi about the traps. Inuzukas could hear the sneeze of a rabbit a mile away, an approaching enemy easy to pick out in their territory. Traps were only a failsafe, only for peace of mind rather than true protection. Not a fun surprise, their traps designed to cripple.

“You had seals in your houses?”

“Everywhere.” Sachi corrected. “There are so many seals that you can’t count them. Protection, warmth, mood… when you moved across the Heart the seals followed you, bringing light or muffling your steps to not bother the others.” she explained, nostalgia permeating her words. “If you put your hand to whatever surface,” she did so, palm down on the table. “they would recognize you, greet you. You could feel everyone in the Heart beneath your skin, pulsating like a throbbing beat that—” she stopped abruptly, her eyes glazing over before blinking forcefully. “You don’t have this.”

She took her palm down, petting Haiiro again.

That did explain why Sachi kept touching the walls, and staring at them as if they would do something. Ashi pictured it, a home filled with seals, that answered one’s touch like they were truly alive instead of the machinations of their masters.

“They teach you seals in school or…?”

“Usually school, but there’s always someone that can show you a new seal or you can go to the Library and learn by yourself.” Ashi had the slight suspicion that Sachi did all of those, repeatedly. “I learned seals before I learned language.”

“Really?” she asked, interested and concerned. “How’s that work?”

“I… Mother didn’t teach me.” and there was something heartbreaking in her tone, the way Sachi spoke of her mother. With fear and guilt. “She did teach me seals, though,” and here she brightened, if only minutely “and they sort of… clicked in my head, I guess. Seals make sense, they always have.”

For her, maybe they did. Ashi had struggled to learn the medical seals to stop the blood or restart the chakra gates, the sigils and matrixes just drawings that could blow off her arm if she put too much chakra on them. Sachi didn’t have that unease when it came to them, and Ashi could tell by the scent that she missed them.

Loneliness had a distinct smell. Salty like tears, sweet like sweat, and desperately bitter.

As useful seals were, they were a source of great grief.

Uzushio was dead because of seals. The Kanbayashi were dead too, because of them. And perhaps, most unforgivable of all, they had sentenced Sachi for life.

“Sachi,” Ashi called her, the girl facing her with all her full attention. She was a puppy in more ways than one. “do you want to learn how to fight?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo this is the end of THE BEGINNING ARC, aka, the introduction.
> 
> I'll be posting by arcs, instead of chapter by chapter, so I can edit them. I know that my pace is kinda slow, but I'm trying to flesh out Leaf the best I can, with all the things that I would have liked to see in the manga, or hell, even the anime. Just before you come at me with pitchforks, I love details and I don't spare them when writting, which is a terrible excuse for saying that this is going to be a VERY LONG FIC (not that I want it to be, mind you.)
> 
> I put a rivalry between the Inuzuka and Hyuuga, and introduced Hiroto. My hc is that the Hyuuga are very paranoid about their dojutsu, and that's why they came with the Caged Bird Seal, so if any of their clansmen are captured, they won't endanger the others by the enemy obtaining intel on the byakugan. However, for that to work, one has to be cruel. Don't worry, this isn't a Hyuuga bashing fic, and they will get their moment to shine, but from Ashi's POV, they are a little bit weird.
> 
> About Clan Theft and Civilian Harassment, I invented it just for the sake of having some sort of laws in Leaf, necessary when you put military and civilians together.
> 
> How the byakugan works? Well, I pulled it from my ass, basically. I think that the Hyuuga being colorblind adds a little more spice to their dojutsu, and explains a little bit how it works without using the chakra-magic-bullshit excuse. My take on them is that their eyes are not eyes, technically, but only retinas. 
> 
> Like, instead of having an iris and a pupil that regulate how much light enters the eye, the Hyuuga have an empty orbit with only the retina in the back. This is why their eyes are so pale, since they have only the back of their eye on display. Instead, they have a sturdy membrane (eyes are pretty though, surprisingly) that protects their eyeballs from the exterior, even their optical nerve slightly coated in it that has an abundance of light receptors that help them see in everything.
> 
> They have more chakra pathways around the eyes, that thicken when they use their byakugan. You can see the entrance of the optic nerve as some kind of barely visible pupil. The byakugan, when active, doesn’t see colors but presences. Idk how to explain it, like, they can see chakra and the basic forms of things, but not colors. The byakugan puts a series of chakra layers that help the receptors dismiss colors and focus on the inherent chakra of everything, thus able to see through things and people. This can be enhanced by chakra bursts, that, like the echolization of a bat, bounces over their surroundings and gives them info about depth, shape, width… things like that; their brain then processes it and gives them the X rays eyes.
> 
> (I bullshited the byakugan, okay? Rant over.)
> 
> AND! I put actual leaves in Leaf. It annoys me a little bit that Konoha (or Leaf, whatever), the Hidden Village in the Leaves, does NOT have any sort of leaves in the village. Like, one would think that Leaf would be sort of like a tree house but bigger, but instead we get a regular village with ninja sprinkeled about. My hc is that Hashirama used his Wood Release to shield the village (like, from avoiding the enemy spying on them with bird summons or smth) and they adapted from there, using the forest as a natural barrier and a special feature to train themselves.
> 
> See ya in the next arc: ACADEMICS AND THROWING PUNCHES.


End file.
